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A  CHILD'S  GUIDE 
TO  THE  BIBLE 


Christ  Blessing  Little  Children 


TJofmann  i 


A  CHILD'S  GUIDE 
TO  THE  BIBLE 


BY 

GEORGE  HODGES 

DEAX    OF    THE    EPISCOPAL    THEOLOGICAL    SCHOOL,    CAMBRIDGE) 
MASSACHUSETTS 

ILLUSTRATED 


New  York 

THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  CO. 

1911 


$5> 


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Copyright  1911,  by 

The  Baker  &  Taylor  Company 

Published  December,  1911 


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CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

PAGE 

The  Books  of  the  Bible 3 

Prose  and  Poetry 10 

Making  the  Books                   15 

The  Bible  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin       ...  22 

The  Bible  in  English 31 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 

THE   HISTORICAL  BOOKS 

7.  The  Era  of  the  Beginnings 
The  Old  Testament  Triangle 
What  Abraham  Brought 
From  Mesopotamia  to  Egypt 
From  the  Nile  to  Mt.  Sinai     . 
The  Giving  of  the  Law    . 
From  Mt.  Sinai  to  the  Jordan 
The  Conquest  of  the  Promised  Land 
The  Defense  of  the  Promised  Land 
II.  The  Era  of  the  Kings 
The  Selection  of  Saul 
The  Exploits  of  David 


41 
46 
53 
62 

70 
75 
81 
89 

98 
104 


The  Glory  of  Solomon 114 

The  Revolution 119 

^  Elijah  and  Elisha 124 

^ings,  North  and  South    .      .       .       .       .       .       .  133 

v-The  Invasion  of  the  Assyrians 138 

\/rhe  Invasion  of  the  Chaldeans 142 

V//7.  The  Era  of  the  Foreign  Rulers 

The  Foreign  Rulers 149 

The  New  History     ...  ....  156 


I 


THE  POETICAL  BOOKS 


il^' 


The  Books  of  Wisdom 'o/yf'^^ 163 

J  The  Book  of  Psalms  and  the  Book  of  Songs  y-  .       .       170 

THE  PROPHETICAL  BOOKS 

I.  Eighth  Century 

V  Amos^Hosea,  Micah .       179 

v/saiah 186 

II.  Seventh  Century 

Zephaniah,  Nahum,  Habakkuk 191 

>y  Jeremiah 196 

III.  Sixth  Century 

Ezekiel       . 202 

Obadiah,  Lamentations,  Haggai,  Zechariah  .       .        .       208 

IV.  Fifth  Century  and  After 

Malachi,  Joel,Monah 213 

\/Daniel 218 

vi 


THE  NEW^TESTAMENT 

The  Gospels 229 

Ministry  of  Christ:  First  Year 237 

Ministry  of  Christ:  Second  Year 247 

Ministry  of  Christ:  Third  Year 258 

Acts  of  St.  Peter 271 

Acts  of  St.  Paul 279 

Epistles  of  St.  Paul:  Missionary  Journeys  .       .       .  293 

Epistles  of  St.  Paul :  Roman  Imprisonment               .  304 

Epistles  of  St.  James,  St.  Jude,  St.  Peter,  St.  John  .  310 

The  Revelation 319 


jH 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Christ  Blessing  Little  Children,  Hofmann     .      Frontispiece 

OPPOSITE 
PAGE 

Eebecca  at  the  Well,  Murillo  .......  56 

Jacobus  Ladder,  Murillo 58 

The  Judgment  of  Solomon,  Dore 114 

Matthew,  Marke,  Lnke  and  John,  Jordaens    .       .       .  228 

St.  Matthew,  Rembrandt 236 

The  Nativity,  Hofmann 238 

The  Prodigal  Son,  Batoni 264 

The  Descent  from  the  Cross,  Rubens      ....  268 

St  Paul  at  Ephesus,  Le  Sueur 288 


IX 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  BOOKS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

'TpHE  word  Bible  means  'Hhe  books/'  The  Bible 
looks  like  one  book,  for  it  is  all  contained 
within  a  single  pair  of  covers.  But  when  it  is  ex- 
amined it  is  found  to  be  made  of  sixty-seven  books 
bound  together. 

Sometimes  the  Bible  is  printed  in  such  small 
letters  that  it  will  go  easily  into  a  coat  pocket. 
Sometimes  it  is  printed  in  such  large  letters  that  a 
child  of  ten  would  find  it  almost  too  heavy  to 
carry,  and  a  child  of  five  could  not  carry  it  at  all. 
But  big  or  little,  the  Bible  is  always  sixty-seven 
books  in  one. 

It  is  as  if  you  were  to  take  sixty-seven  books  ofif 
the  shelves  of  a  book  case  and  send  them  to  a 
printer  and  say,  ''These  are  to  be  printed  page 
after  page,  and  then  bound  into  one  book.''  The 
printer  would  say,  ''Such  a  book  would  be  too 
large.  It  would  be  bigger  than  a  volume  of  the 
Encyclopaedia;  it  would  be  bigger  than  the 
Unabridged  Dictionary.     Nobody  could  handle 


.mXRODUCTION 


such  a  book."  But  that  would  depend  on  the  size 
of  the  sixty-seven  books. 

One  reason  why  the  Bible  books  are  bound 
together  is  that  some  of  them  are  so  very  small. 
Thus  in  the  middle  of  the  Bible  are  sixteen  books 
of  sermons,  beginning  with  Isaiah;  and  sometimes 
there  is  only  one  sermon  in  the  book;  and  some  of 
these  sermons  are  so  short  that  they  may  easily  be 
read  aloud,  from  beginning  to  end,  in  less  than  ten 
minutes.  And  near  the  end  of  the  Bible  are 
twenty-one  books  of  letters,  beginning  with  Ro- 
mans; a  few  of  these  are  long,  but  others  are 
hardly  more  than  notes,  and  do  not  fill  the  whole 
of  a  single  printed  page.  These  little  writings,  by 
themselves,  might  be  lost.  They  are  bound  up 
with  the  others  for  safe  keeping. 

When  we  say,  then,  that  there  are  sixty-seven 
books  of  the  Bible,  we  do  not  mean  that  they  are  all 
good-sized  books,  such  as  we  have  on  our  shelves, 
for  that  would  make  a  volume  quite  too  big. 
There  are  sixty-seven  different  pieces,  long  and 
short,  each  with  its  own  writer,  and  its  own  subject 
and  its  own  title. 

Another  reason  for  putting  all  these  together 
between  two  covers  is  for  convenience.  They  are 
all  concerned  with  religion.    They  are  about  the 


THE  BOOKS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

same  Person,  and  were  written  by  people  of  the 
same  race.  The  writers  of  these  sixty-seven  books 
were  Jews,  and  they  wrote  them  to  tell  what  God 
had  done  for  their  fathers  and  for  them,  and  what 
God  would  do  for  all  the  people  of  the  earth. 
Taken  together,  the  different  writings  make  a 
single,  long,  connected  history. 

Sometimes  fathers  and  mothers  who  are  good  at 
telling  stories,  tell  a  long,  long  story  which  lasts 
a  year,  or  longer  than  that.  Every  week,  or  every 
day,  there  is  something  more  to  tell.  The  Bible  is 
the  longest  story  in  the  world,  for  it  took  more 
than  a  thousand  years  to  tell  it.  One  began,  and 
another  continued,  new  ones  coming  forward,  year 
after  year,  to  take  the  places  of  the  earlier  writers, 
and  new  and  wonderful  things  happening,  until  at 
last  the  book  was  ended.  Thus,  about  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  men 
were  gathering  together  and  writing  down  the 
chapters  of  the  first  book  of  the  Bible.  But  the 
stories  and  the  songs  which  are  in  that  book  had 
been  in  the  memory  of  the  people  for  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  years,  nobody  knows  how  long. 
They  had  been  told  and  sung  thousands  and 
thousands  of  times  before  they  were  written.    The 


INTRODUCTION  : 

■J 

last  book  of  the  Bible  was  written  perhaps  a  hun-  1 
dred  years  after  the  birth  of  Christ.  | 

Not  only  were  these  sixty-seven  books  written  ] 
at  very  different  times,  but  they  were  written  in  i 
very  different  places.  The  writers  of  a  good  many  i 
of  them  lived  in  Jerusalem;  but  some  of  them  j 
lived  in  Babylon.  Part  of  the  Bible  was  written  | 
in  Asia  Minor,  at  Ephesus;  part  in  Greece,  at  i 
Corinth;  part  in  Italy,  at  Rome.  These  writers  \ 
used  two  very  different  languages.  The  Old  i 
Testament  was  composed  in  Hebrew,  the  New 
Testament  in  Greek.  ; 

The  name  Testament,  which  is  thus  given  to  ! 
the  two  great  divisions  of  the  Bible,  means  a  \ 
promise.  It  was  God  who  made  the  promise,  ; 
speaking  in  the  hearts  of  good  men,  and  sending  | 
them  to  tell  their  neighbors.  The  promise  was  i 
that  God  would  be  good  to  us  and  bless  us.  j 

We  are  so  sure  of  that  today  that  it  seems  to  us  \ 
as  if  people  must  have  known  it  always.  But  that  j 
is  not  so.  Even  now,  there  are  countries  where  ; 
they  are  not  at  all  sure  that  God  is  good,  or  desires  \ 
our  good.  They  are  terribly  afraid  of  God,  and  \ 
are  all  the  time  offering  sacrifices  to  persuade  God  i 
not  to  hurt  them.    This  is  the  idea  of  God  which  , 

they    get    from    thunder    and    lightning,    from 

6  ! 


THE  BOOKS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

storms  and  floods  and  fires  and  pestilences.  It 
is  only  in  the  Bible  that  we  are  told,  over  and  over 
again,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  ills  of  life,  that  God 
cares  for  us  and  loves  us,  and  does  always  what  is 
right  and  best. 

In  the  Old  Testament,  this  assurance  of  God's 
goodness  is  made  only  to  the  Jews.  That  is 
because  the  Jews  were  best  able  to  understand  it. 

When  a  man  of  science  wishes  to  say  something 
new  and  important  about  astronomy  or  geology, 
he  does  not  say  it  to  the  men  who  are  working  in 
a  mill,  or  to  the  boys  and  girls  who  are  studying  in 
a  public  school.  The  time  will  come,  if  the  dis- 
covery is  really  important,  when  everybody  will 
know  about  it.  But  the  first  report  is  made  to 
men  of  science  who  can  understand  it.  Then  these 
men  may  go  and  tell  about  it  in  simpler  words  to 
other  people.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  God 
spoke  about  religion  to  the  Jews,  because  they 
knew  more  about  religion  than  any  other  people  in 
the  world.  He  made  the  Greeks  the  teachers  of 
the  world  in  art  and  philosophy,  because  they  were 
the  best  philosophers  and  art  sts.  He  made  the 
Latins  the  teachers  of  the  world  in  law,  because 
they  were  the  best  lawyers.  But  he  appointed  the 
Jews  to  teach  the  world  religion. 


INTRODUCTION 

The  lessons  which  the  Jews  themselves  learned 
that  they  might  teach  them  to  their  neighbors,  are 
in  the  Old  Testament.  They  begin  with  the  very 
alphabet  of  religion  and  go  on  little  by  little,  into 
the  higher  grades.  Thus  they  learned  that  God  is, 
but  they  thought  that  God  came  down  into  the 
Garden  of  Eden  and  walked  about  under  the 
trees.  Afterwards  they  realized  that  "no  man 
hath  seen  God  at  any  time."  And  they  learned 
that  God  is  merciful,  but  they  thought  that  one 
time  when  God  was  about  to  destroy  the  people 
of  Israel,  Moses  rebuked  Him  so  that  He  changed 
His  mind.  Afterwards,  they  came  to  know  that 
God  is  not  only  wiser  than  any  man, — so  that  not 
even  Moses  could  teach  Him, — ^but  that  He  is 
more  merciful  than  any  man.  The  Bible,  then,  is 
an  account  of  how  the  Jews,  under  the  instruction 
of  God,  learned  what  to  beUeve  and  what  to  do. 
It  describes  how  they  went  to  school  to  God. 
There  were  other  schools,  for  God  was  teaching 
every  nation,  as  He  is  still.  But  of  all  the  schools, 
this  was  the  best. 

In  the  New  Testament,  the  great  lessons  go  on. 
But  there  are  two  differences.  One  is  that  in  the 
Old  Testament  the  teachers  who  teach  the  lessons 
of  God  are  patriarchs  and  poets  and  prophets; 


THE  BOOKS  OF  THE  BIBLE 

but  in  the  New  Testament  the  supreme  teacher  is 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  The  other  is  that 
in  the  New  Testament  all  the  lessons  are  taught 
to  the  Jews;  but  in  the  New  Testament  the 
teachers  go  out  to  teach  all  nations. 


PROSE  AND  POETRY 

^TpHE  sixty-seven  books  which  are  bound  to- 
gether to  make  the  Bible  are  some  of  them 
in  prose  and  some  in  poetry. 

Commonly,  poetry  and  prose  look  different. 
Take,  for  example,  a  volume  of  Longfellow.  Here 
are  poems,  long  and  short;  some  in  rhyme,  like 
"Paul  Revere's  Ride,''  some  without  rhyme,  like 
the  "Courtship  of  Miles  Standish'';  but  every 
page  looking  unlike  any  page  of  prose.  In  the 
Bible,  the  difference  between  prose  and  poetry  is 
not  so  plain,  for  here  the  poetry  has  been  made 
over  into  prose. 

It  is  like  what  Mr.  Church  has  done  in  his  three 
familiar  translations  of  great  classics  for  English 
and  American  children.  The  Iliad  and  the 
Odyssey,  in  the  Greek  in  which  they  were  written 
by  Homer,  and  the  Aeneid,  in  the  Latin  in  which 
it  was  written  by  Virgil,  are  in  the  form  of  poetry, 
line  after  line,  like  our  poems.  But  Mr.  Church 
gave  them  to  us  in  prose.  Indeed,  it  is  impossible 
to  take  the  poetry  of  one  language  and  turn  it  into 

10 


PROSE  AND  POETRY 

the  same  poetry  in  another  language.  For  poetry, 
as  you  see  at  once,  depends  not  only  on  the  thoughts 
but  on  the  words.  When  the  words  are  changed, 
the  poetical  form  is  changed.  It  is  true  that  Mr. 
Church,  in  retelling  those  old  poems  of  Homer  and 
Virgil,  made  other  changes  in  order  to  make  the 
books  more  interesting  to  boys  and  girls.  But 
when  Professor  Palmer  translated  the  Odyssey, 
he  kept  every  thought  just  as  it  was  in  Greek,  only 
he  did  not  try  to  make  the  Greek  verses  into 
English  verses. 

That  is  what  was  done  when  the  Bible  books 
called  Job,  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Ecclesiastes  and 
Solomon's  Song  were  brought  over  into  English 
out  of  Hebrew.  In  some  English  Bibles,  they  are 
printed  in  lines  somewhat  like  poetry,  but  in  most 
Bibles  they  look  like  prose. 

The  prose  books,  of  which  the  greater  part  of 
the  Bible  is  composed,  are  of  two  kinds.  There  are 
books  whose  purpose  is  to  tell  what  men  have 
believed  and  done  in  the  past;  and  there  are  books 
whose  purpose  is  to  tell  what  men  ought  to  believe 
and  to  do  in  the  present. 

The  first  half  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the 

first  half  of  the  New  are  made  up  of  the  writings 

which  describe  what  has  been  believed  and  done 

11 


INTRODUCTION 

by  the  men  of  the  old  time.  These  are  history 
books. 

In  the  Old  Testament,  they  begin  with  Genesis, 
and  come  on,  book  after  book,  to  the  end  of  Second 
Kings;  telling  the  story  of  the  beginnings  of  the 
world  and  of  the  Hebrews,  how  Abraham  came  out 
of  Mesopotamia  and  how  Moses  brought  the 
people  out  of  Egypt,  how  they  conquered  the  land 
of  Canaan  and  settled  there,  and  grew  to  be  a 
strong  nation,  how  one  part  of  the  nation  quar- 
relled with  the  other  part,  so  that  they  divided  and 
became  two  nations,  and  finally  how  stronger 
peoples  from  the  east,  Assyrians  and  Chaldeans, 
came  and  destroyed  first  one  nation  and  then  the 
other,  and  carried  them  both  off  into  exile.  Then 
the  history  begins  over  again  with  First  Chronicles, 
the  first  word  of  which  is  ^' Adam,"  and  comes 
down  over  the  same  ground  as  before,  in  the  earlier 
part  rapidly,  telling  the  same  story,  and  continues, 
in  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  the  record  of  the  Hebrews, 
how  they  came  back  from  their  exile  when  both 
the  Assyrians  and  the  Chaldeans  were  conquered 
by  the  Persians,  and  rebuilt  the  city  of  Jerusalem 
and  the  temple  in  the  midst  of  it. 

In  the  New  Testament,  the  history  books  begin 
with  Matthew  and  give  four  different  accounts  of 

12 


PROSE  AND  POETRY 

the  life  of  Christ,  and  then  describe  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  Church,  especially  in  the  min- 
istry of  St.  Peter  and  in  the  ministry  of  St.  Paul. 

The  last  half  of  the  Old  Testament, — after  the 
books  of  poetry  in  the  middle — and  the  last  half 
of  the  New  are  made  up  of  writings  which  tell 
people  what  they  ought  to  believe  and  do.  One 
way  in  which  to  give  this  good  advice  is  to  speak 
to  them  face  to  face,  either  in  a  talk  in  private,  or 
in  a  sermon  in  public.  The  Old  Testament  books 
of  advice  are  mostly  sermons.  The  men  who 
preached  these  sermons  were  called  prophets,  and 
they  did  much  more  than  quietly  advise  men. 
They  denounced  their  sins;  they  told  them  in  the 
plainest  kind  of  language  that  they  were  bringing 
upon  themselves  the  displeasure  of  God,  and  that 
unless  they  changed  their  ways  they  would  be 
punished.  Many  of  the  prophets  preached  in  the 
days  when  the  Assyrians  and  Chaldeans  were 
coming  with  their  invading  armies,  and  they  said 
that  the  reason  for  these  distresses  was  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  people. 

Another  way  in  which  to  tell  people  what  they 
should  believe  and  do  is  to  write  to  them.  The 
New  Testament  books  of  advice  are  mostly  letters. 
St.  Paul  wrote  most  of  these  letters,  but  other  good 

13 


INTRODUCTION 

men  wrote  some  others.  They  begin  with  the 
address  of  the  persons  to  whom  they  are  written, 
and  at  the  end  the  writer  asks  to  be  remembered 
to  various  friends.  They  answer  questions,  like  our 
letters.  All  of  them  are  about  religion,  and  some  of 
them  sound  more  like  sermons  than  letters,  but 
they  were  written,  like  our  letters,  to  persons  at  a 
distance,  and  were  given  to  the  postman,  or  to 
some  travelling  friend  to  carry. 


14 


MAKING  THE  BOOKS 

/^NE  way  to  make  a  book  is  to  take  a  pen  and  ink, 
and  write  it.  Most  books  are  made  that  way. 
The  writer  learns  a  great  deal,  and  thinks  a  great 
deal,  and  then  puts  it  all  down,  page  after  page,  in 
a  book.  But  another  way  to  make  a  book  is  to 
take  a  pair  of  scissors  and  a  pot  of  paste,  and  select 
good  things  from  many  books  and  put  them  to- 
gether. 

Many  books  of  poetry  are  made  in  this  second 
way.  For  instance,  hymn  books.  Nobody  writes 
a  hymn  book.  What  is  done  is  to  gather  together 
a  number  of  hymns  which  were  written  at  very 
different  times,  by  different  persons,  sometimes  in 
different  countries.  Thus  in  one  book  there  may 
be  a  hymn  which  was  first  written  in  Greek,  in  the 
fourth  century,  and  is  still  sung  in  that  language  in 
Greece;  and  another  which  was  first  written  in 
Latin,  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  is  still  sung  in 
that  language  in  Italy;  and  another  which  was 
written  in  this  country  a  few  years  ago,  to  be  sung 
at  the  revival  meetings  conducted  by  Mr.  Moody. 

15 


INTRODUCTION 

The  maker  of  a  hymn  book  selects  the  religious 
poetry  which  he  thinks  is  best  suited  to  be  sung  in 
church.  Sometimes  the  name  of  the  writer  of  each 
hymn  is  printed  at  the  end  of  the  hymn,  but  some- 
times not.  People  easily  forget  who  wrote  any  of 
the  hymns.  The  authors  are  not  of  any  particular 
interest  to  them.  Few  persons  remember  who 
wrote  even  the  most  familiar  hymns,  like  ''Rock 
of  Ages,''  or  "  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee.''  By-and- 
by,  somebody  else  takes  the  old  hymn  book,  leaves 
out  some  hymns,  adds  many  others,  and  thus 
makes  a  new  book.  Year  by  year,  such  books 
grow. 

Thus,  in  the  Bible,  the  Book  of  Psalms  grew. 
Some  psalms  have  the  name  of  the  writer,  or  of 
the  supposed  writer,  printed  at  the  top.  Thus 
many  psalms  are  said  to  have  been  written  by 
David,  one  by  Moses.  Sometimes  a  psalm  is  dated, 
like  the  one-hundred-and-thirty-seventh.  This  be- 
gins, "By  the  rivers  of  Babylon."  That  shows  that 
it  was  written  hundreds  of  years  after  the  days  of 
David,  when  the  Hebrews  were  in  exile  in  Baby- 
lon. Thus  century  by  century  the  psalm  book 
grew.  The  names  of  the  writers  of  most  of  the 
psalms  are  altogether  forgotten.  The  book  was 
made  by  gathering  together  pieces  of  religious 

16 


MAKING  THE  BOOKS 

poetry  written  at  different  times,  in  different 
places,  and  by  different  people.  The  Book  of 
Proverbs  was  composed  in  the  same  way. 

Books  of  history  are  made  by  this  process  of  col- 
lection. The  historian,  unless  he  is  describing  what 
he  has  seen  with  his  own  eyes,  and  heard  with  his 
own  ears,  prepares  to  write  his  history  by  read- 
ing old  records.  He  tries  to  find  accounts  of 
battles  written  by  men  who  were  actually  in  the 
battles,  and  descriptions  of  heroes  written  by  men 
who  actually  knew  them.  He  gathers  together 
old  laws.  He  copies  down  pages  from  old  books. 
And  all  these  he  brings  into  his  history.  Some- 
times, the  maker  of  a  book  of  history  studies 
these  old  writings  and  tells  us  in  his  own  words 
what  they  mean.  Sometimes  he  takes  the  writ- 
ings and  puts  them  in  his  book  in  the  old  words, 
and  leaves  us  to  find  out  the  meaning,  as  best  we 
may.  Sometimes,  finding  two  different  accounts 
of  the  same  event,  he  gives  us  both  of  them, 
and  leaves  us  to  compare  them.  Thus  history 
books,  like  hymn  books,  are  not  written  by  one 
man.  The  writer  makes  use  of  the  writings  of 
many  men. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  history  books  of  the  Bible 
were  made.    Sometimes  the  Bible  historian  tells 

17 


INTRODUCTION 

US  in  what  older  books  he  found  the  facts  which  he 
reports.  He  refers,  for  example,  to  the  Book  of 
the  Kings  of  Judah  and  Israel  (II  Chronicles 
25:26),  or  to  the  Book  of  Jasher  (II  Samuel 
1:18).  Out  of  one  book  he  takes  an  account  of  a 
war,  out  of  another  he  copies  an  old  song.  Some- 
times, when  he  found  two  forms  of  the  same  story, 
either  in  different  books,  or  in  the  memory  of  dif- 
ferent people,  he  put  in  both.  Thus  you  see  at 
once  that  the  account  of  the  creation  of  the  world 
is  given  in  one  form  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 
and  in  another  form  in  the  second  chapter.  In 
the  first  chapter,  at  the  beginning  of  all  things  is  a 
great  deep;  in  the  second  chapter,  at  the  beginning 
is  a  great  desert.  Also,  in  the  first  chapter  man  is 
made  after  the  animals;  in  the  second  chapter, 
before  the  animals. 

These  differences  are  not  of  any  importance,  be- 
cause the  Bible  is  not  a  book  of  geology,  but  a 
book  of  theology.  Geology  is  an  account  of  the 
earth,  its  rocks  and  hills.  Theology  is  an  account 
of  God,  His  will,  His  love,  and  His  dealings  with 
men.  The  purpose  of  the  Bible  is  to  make  us 
''wise  unto  salvation."  If  we  wish  to  be  wise  as 
to  science  or  history,  we  go  to  other  books. 

But  the  differences,  while  they  are  not  impor- 
ts 


MAKING  THE  BOOKS 

tant,  are  of  great  interest  because  they  show  us  the 
Bible  in  the  making.  We  see  the  actual  pieces 
which  the  historian  had  in  his  hand.  Instead  of 
studying  the  two  accounts,  and  deciding  between 
them  himself,  taking  one  and  leaving  out  the 
other,  he  gave  us  both,  side  by  side. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  history  books  of  the  Bible 
were  made  in  somewhat  the  same  manner  as  they 
built  the  church  at  Jamestown.  The  old  church  at 
Jamestown  having  fallen  into  ruins,  and  nothing 
being  left  of  it  except  the  tower,  a  new  church  was 
built  on  the  same  spot  in  memory  of  the  landing  of 
the  English  settlers  in  1607.  But  they  did  not  use 
new  brick.  On  the  ground,  and  under  the  ground, 
they  found  old  brick,  some  of  which  had  once 
formed  part  of  the  wall  of  the  old  church,  and  these 
they  built  into  the  new  building. 

The  differences  in  the  accounts  given  of  the 
same  event  show  that  the  historian  was  using  ma- 
terials which  were  already  very  old.  Imagine,  for 
instance,  a  tribe  of  people  emigrating  into  a  new 
country.  They  have  their  flocks  and  herds  with 
them,  and  their  encampment,  whenever  they  stop 
to  rest,  extends  over  a  great  space  of  plain  and 
forest.  Some  are  before,  some  are  behind.  Then 
something  happens;  those  who  are  before  push  on 

19 


INTRODUCTION 

over  a  range  of  hills,  and  suddenly  there  is  a 
heavy  storm  of  snow,  and  those  who  are  behind 
stay  back.  They  go  into  winter  quarters,  with  the 
high  hills  between  them.  In  the  spring,  they  like 
the  country  and  settle  where  they  are,  separated 
by  the  mountains.  And  they  become  separate 
nations.  Now  these  separate  nations  have  at 
first  the  same  traditions  and  memories;  they  re- 
member the  same  ancestors  and  heroes  and  his- 
tory; they  have  the  same  accounts  of  the  past. 
But  year  after  year,  as  they  live  apart,  little  dif- 
ferences will  arise  in  these  accounts.  Sometimes 
names  will  be  changed,  sometimes  numbers  will  be 
less  here  and  greater  there.  For  that  is  human 
nature.  No  two  persons  will  tell  the  same  story 
in  just  the  same  way.  Then  suppose  that  after  a 
long  time  the  two  nations  become  one  again. 
Suppose  that  one  nation  is  driven  by  enemies  over 
the  hills,  and  joins  the  other  nation.  And  suppose 
that  somebody  writes  a  history  of  the  old  days 
when  the  two  nations  were  one  before,  and  of  the 
ancestors  and  heroes  which  they  have  in  common. 
He  will  find  two  forms  of  stories.  Sometimes  he 
may  combine  the  two,  sometimes  he  may  keep 
them  both  with  all  their  differences. 

This,  in  a  way,  is  what  happened  to  the  accounts 

20 


MAKING  THE  BOOKS 

of  the  ancient  world  which  appear  at  the  oeginning 
of  the  Bible.  Except  that  the  event  which  sep- 
arated the  Hebrews  into  two  nations  was  not  a 
snowstorm,  but  a  war.  They  fought  together  and 
then  lived  apart.  Thus  they  told  the  old  stories 
in  gradually  differing  ways;  in  one  form  in  the 
south,  in  the  nation  of  Judah;  in  another  form  in 
the  north,  in  the  nation  of  Israel.  Long  afterwards 
the  two  forms  were  set  down  side  by  side,  in  the 
book  of  Genesis  and  in  other  books  of  Bible  history. 
Thus  the  Bible  books  were  made;  some  of  them 
written  straight  along  by  the  writer  out  of  his  own 
mind  and  heart,  as  God  helped  him;  some  of  them 
collected  together  out  of  materials  already  very 
old. 


21 


THE  BIBLE  IN  HEBREW.  GREEK  AND 
LATIN 

1.  The  Hebrew  Bible. — Three  interpretations. 

(4)  The  Targum. — A  free  translation  out  of 
Hebrew  into  Aramaic,  the  language  of 
the  people  after  the  Exile. 

(2)  The  Talmud. — A  commentary. 

(3)  The  Massorah. — The  Bible  not  with  con- 

sonants only,  but  for  the  first  time  adding 
vowels. 

2.  The  Greek  Bible:    The  Septuagint  (begun  third 

century  B.  C.) — Three  ancient  copies. 

(1)  Codex  Alexandrinus,  in  British  Museum 

written  in  fifth  century  A.  D. 

(2)  Codex    Vaticanus,    in    Vatican    Library, 

Rome.    Written  in  fourth  century. 

(3)  Codex  Sinaiticus,  in  Imperial  Library,  St. 

Petersburg.    Written  in  fourth  century. 

3.  The  Latin  Bible:    The  Vulgate  (fourth  century 

A.  D.) 

npHE  Bible  was  written  in  three  languages  which 
are  no  longer  anywhere  spoken.  Once  they 
were  as  easy  and  familiar  as  our  own  language 
is  to  us,  and  were  spoken  by  babies  who  were 
learning  to  walk  and  talk.  But  gradually  the 
times,  changed,  and  the  common  speech  of  men 

22 


THE  BIBLE  IN  HEBREW 

changed  with  them.  Thus  it  became  necessary 
to  translate  the  Bible.  It  had  to  be  taken  over 
out  of  these  ancient  languages  into  the  living 
words  of  living  men. 

When  the  Bible  was  written,  the  English  lan- 
guage did  not  exist.  Not  an  Englishman  had  as 
yet  set  foot  in  England.  The  English  lived  in  the 
middle  part  of  the  peninsula  which  we  now  call 
Denmark,  and  were  a  wild  race  of  warriors  on  the 
land  and  pirates  on  the  sea.  All  quiet  and  civ- 
ilized people  were  as  afraid  of  them  as  the  settlers 
of  America  were  afraid  of  Indians.  Some  of  the 
words  which  they  used  have  come  down  from  them 
tons.  They  said  "ham,"  meaning  "home'';  and 
"tun,''  meaning  "town."  Most  of  our  days  of  the 
week  are  called  for  their  gods:  thus  Wednesday 
is  the  day  of  Woden,  their  god  of  war;  and 
Thursday  is  the  day  of  Thor,  their  god  of  storm; 
and  Friday  is  the  day  of  Frea,  their  god  of  peace. 
Our  festival  of  Easter  is  named  from  Eostre,  their 
goddess  of  the  spring.  But  the  men  who  wrote  the 
Bible  had  never  in  their  lives  heard  any  of  these 
words,  and  did  not  know  that  such  a  race  of  people 
as  the  English  lived  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  When 
the  English  appeared  in  Britain,  and  began  the 
invasion  which  changed  its  name  to  England,  the 

23 


INTRODUCTION 

last  book  of  the  Bible  had  been  ended  almost  four 
hundred  years. 

So  the  books  of  the  Bible  were  written  in  other 
languages  than  ours. 

The  Old  Testament  was  written,  for  the  most 
part,  in  Hebrew.  One  difference  between  Hebrew 
and  EngHsh  is  that  in  reading  a  Hebrew  book  one 
begins  at  what  we  call  the  end;  the  last  page,  as  it 
seems  to  us,  is  the  first  page.  Also,  one  reads  from 
right  to  left,  instead  of  reading,  as  we  do,  from  left 
to  right;  and  every  word  is  made  in  that  same  way, 
— ^as  if  we  were  to  write  the  name  Hebrew  this 
way:  werbeH.  That  has  a  strange  look  even  in 
English  letters,  but  the  Hebrew  itself  looks 
stranger  still,  because  even  the  letters  are  different. 
Here,  for  example,  are  the  first  two  verses  of  the 
book  of  Genesis  in  Hebrew: 

D^'^bK  rmj  Dinn  ^:trh'S.  '^m  mai  \nn  nmh 

•       v;      •      j;  A    :        J    »  I  ••*    U  •  t  ^  :  it 

jD^n  "iB-^s  nsppia 

•  IT  -      J"  i  -  V  [,v    -  : 

There  was  a  time  when  all  the  people  who  lived 
in  the  land  of  the  Jews  used  this  Hebrew  language, 
and  the  Bible  was  written  in  it,  just  as  our  books 
are  made  in  Enghsh.  But  the  great  wars,  which 
for  a  time  almost  destroyed  the  Hebrew  nation, 

24 


THE  BIBLE  IN  HEBREW 

drove  many  of  the  Jews  out  of  Palestine  into 
Egypt.  Large  numbers  of  them  settled  in  Alex- 
andria. Now,  Alexandria,  as  the  name  shows,  was 
a  Greek  city.  It  was  founded  by  Alexander,  the 
Greek  conqueror  of  Egypt.  And  in  Alexandria 
the  common  language  was  Greek.  The  Jews 
learned  it.  They  Hked  it  better  than  Hebrew,  and 
their  children  spoke  it  as  their  native  tongue. 
Thus  it  came  about  that  the  Old  Testament  books, 
when  they  were  read  at  the  time  of  divine  service, 
were  in  a  language  which  the  congregation  could 
no  longer  understand.  The  custom  was  to  have 
men  who  knew  both  languages  explain  to  the 
hearers  what  the  Hebrew  reading  meant,  but  this 
was  not  a  satisfactory  arrangement.  So  the  Jews  of 
Alexandria  desired  to  have  the  Bible  in  Greek. 

Many  other  Jews  felt  the  same  way,  for  they 
went  not  only  into  Egypt  but  into  Asia  Minor, 
buying  and  selling,  and  settled  in  all  the  busy 
towns;  and  everywhere  the  speech  which  every- 
body understood  was  Greek.  Thus  the  Jews  de- 
sired a  Greek  Bible  not  only  for  their  own  use  but 
that  they  might  show  it  to  their  neighbors,  and 
let  them  see  what  their  sacred  books  really  said. 

Thus  it  came  about  that  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ  the  work  was 

25 


INTRODUCTION 

begun  of  translating  the  Hebrew  Bible  into  Greek. 
Long  after,  when  the  Greek  Bible  had  come  to  be 
held  as  sacred  as  the  Hebrew,  and  almost  all  of  the 
circumstances  of  the  translation  had  been  for- 
gotten, they  used  to  tell  a  remarkable  story  about 
it. 

They  said  that  King  Ptolemy  of  Egypt  wished 
to  have  a  copy  of  the  Bible  for  the  great  library 
which  he  was  collecting  at  Alexandria.  So  he  sent 
to  Jerusalem  to  get  one.  His  ambassadors  came  in 
state  to  the  high  priest  in  the  temple,  bringing 
splendid  gifts,  and  when  they  returned  seventy- 
two  men  went  with  them,  six  from  each  of  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  They  were  all  wise  men, 
who  knew  Greek  as  well  as  Hebrew,  and  every  one 
carried  in  one  hand  a  writer^s  inkhorn  and  a 
bundle  of  pens,  and  in  the  other  hand  a  box  in 
which  was  the  Old  Testament  in  Hebrew,  each 
book  written  on  a  separate  roll.  The  seventy-two 
were  graciously  received  by  the  King  of  Egypt, 
who  gave  them  a  royal  banquet;  and  the  next 
morning  they  set  to  work.  Seventy-two  rooms 
were  provided  for  the  seventy-two  translators,  and 
there  they  labored  for  seventy-two  days.  In  the 
afternoon  of  the  seventy-second  day  all  of  the 
seventy-two  doors  opened  at  the  same  moment, 

26 


THE  BIBLE  IN  HEBREW 

and  out  came  the  translators,  each  with  his  trans- 
lation under  his  arm.  And  when  the  translations 
were  compared,  they  were  all  alike,  without  the 
difference  of  a  single  word! 

It  did  not  happen  quite  that  way.  But  the 
story  gave  a  name  to  the  Greek  Old  Testament, 
which  is  called  the  Septuagint,  meaning  the  Sev- 
enty. It  is  true  that  the  translation  was  begun  in 
the  reign  of  the  Ptolemy  who  lived  in  the  two  hun- 
dred and  fiftieth  year  before  Christ;  but  at  that 
time  some  of  the  Old  Testament  books  were  not 
written,  others  had  been  begun  but  were  not  com- 
pleted. The  work  of  changing  the  Hebrew  into 
Greek  took  longer  than  seventy-two  days,  or  even 
seventy-two  years.  It  was  probably  finished  about 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Christ. 

The  Septuagint  was  the  first  book  of  any  con- 
siderable length  ever  translated  from  one  language 
to  another.  It  came  at  once  into  general  use.  In 
the  time  of  our  Lord  it  was  used  even  in  Palestine. 
The  early  Christians  read  the  Old  Testament 
translated  into  Greek  as  we  read  the  Old  Testa- 
ment translated  into  English.  Almost  all  of  the 
Old  Testament  passages  in  the  New  Testament  are 
taken  from  the  Septuagint  translation. 

The  New  Testament  was   written   in   Greek. 

27 


INTRODUCTION 

Even  when  St.  Paul  wrote  to  the  Romans,  he  wrote 
in  Greek.  This  language,  as  you  know,  begins  its 
books  with  the  page  next  to  the  left  hand  cover, 
as  we  do;  and  is  read  from  left  to  right  like 
English;  but  its  letters,  while  not  so  strange  as  the 
Hebrew,  are  still  quite  different  from  ours.  Here, 
for  example,  are  the  first  two  verses  of  the  gospel 
of  St.  Mark  in  Greek. 

I.  I.  'APXH  ToC  tiayi^iou  'ItjcroO  Xptorroo,  oloo  too  eeoO** 
2.  6s  2  Y^YpaTTTOl  ^l'  Tois  Trpo<|)i^Tois,^  "MSou  bf<i>^  dTToorAXw 
TOK  avY^^^^  I"*"  ""P^  irpoffcSirou   ooo,   Ss   KaToaKCudact  t^v  6%6v 

Then  the  New  Testament  was  added  to  the  Old, 
and  the  whole  Bible  was  in  Greek. 

For  a  long  time,  Greek  was  the  common  lan- 
guage of  civilized  people.  Almost  everybody  who 
could  read  at  all,  could  read  Greek.  But  the 
rulers  of  the  world  were  Romans,  and  the  Roman 
language  was  Latin.  Gradually,  in  the  western 
part  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Latin  took  the  place  of 
Greek.  Greek  continued  to  be  used  in  the  east. 
But  the  rest  desired  to  have  the  Bible  in  their 
own  language. 

The  Latin  language  is  somewhat  known  today, 
even  to  those  who  cannot  read  it,  partly  because 
we  use  the  Latin  letters,  and  partly  because  a 
great  many  of  our  words  are  taken  over,  with  little 

28 


THE  BIBLE  IN  LATIN 

change,  from  the  Latin.  Thus  the  thirteenth  verse 
of  the  fifth  chapter  of  the  Revelation,  which  we 
read,  ''And  every  creature  which  is  in  Heaven, 
and  on  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  such  as  are 
in  the  sea,  and  all  that  are  in  them,  heard  I  saying. 
Blessing,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  power,  be 
unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto 
the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever,"  in  the  Latin  reads 
thus: 

Et  omnem  creaturam,  quae  in  coelo  est,  et 
super  terram,  et  sub  terra,  et  quae  sunt  in 
mari,  et  quae  in  eo,  omnes  audivi  dicentes, 
sedenti  in  throno,  et  agno,  benedictio  et 
honor,  et  gloria  et  potetestas  in  saecula  sae- 
culorum. 

You  see  how  our  words  ''creature,''  and  "throne,'' 
and  "benediction,"  and  "honor,"  and  "glory" 
are  Latin  words. 

The  demand  for  a  Latin  Bible  increased,  and 
various  translations  were  made.  At  last,  about 
four  hundred  years  after  Christ,  a  great  scholar 
made  a  Latin  translation  of  the  whole  Bible.  It 
was  so  good  that  it  took  the  place  of  all  the  others, 
and  came  to  be  called  the  Vulgate,  meaning  the 
Bible  in  common  use.  The  name  of  this  scholar 
was  Jerome.    By  that  time,  few  people  in  western 

29 


INTRODUCTION 

Europe  could  read  Greek,  and  hardly  anybody 
could  read  even  a  sentence  of  Hebrew.  Everybody 
knew  one  Hebrew  word,  which  we  all  use  today, 
the  word  Amen;  but  that  was  as  far  as  their  ac- 
quaintance went.  Jerome  learned  Hebrew,  he 
was  a  master  of  Greek,  and  Latin  was  his  native 
tongue.  So  the  bishop  of  Rome  asked  him,  as  the 
best  scholar  of  his  time,  to  translate  the  Bible  into 
Latin.  He  spent  fourteen  years  at  this  work, 
living  in  Bethlehem.  At  the  end,  there  was  the 
whole  Bible,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  all  in 
Latin. 

The  Greek  translation,  the  Septuagint,  took  the 
place  of  the  Hebrew  Bible  in  the  east,  and  is  read 
today  in  all  the  churches  of  that  part  of  the 
country,  in  Greece  and  in  Russia.  The  Latin 
translation,  the  Vulgate,  became  the  Bible  of  the 
west,  and  is  still  read  in  the  service  of  all  Roman 
Catholic  churches.  All  educated  persons,  no 
matter  what  European  country  they  lived  in, 
understood  Latin.  They  talked  it,  as  we  talk 
English. 


30 


THE  BIBLE  IN  ENGLISH 

1.  In  the  fourteenth  century. — WycHffe's  Bible,  1380. 

2.  In  the  sixteenth  century  (and  beginning  of  seven- 

teenth) 

1.  Three  versions,  each  bearing  a  translator's  name, 

culminating  in  Great  Bible. 

(1)  Tyndale's,  1525-1535. 

(2)  Coverdale's,  1535. 

(3)  Matthew's  =  Tyndale's  +  Coverdale's. 

(4)  The  Great  Bible,  1539. 

2.  Three  versions,  each  bearing  a  party  name,  cul- 

minating in  King  James'  Bible. 

(1)  Genevan  (Puritan)  1560. 

(2)  Bishops'  (AngHcan)  1568. 

(3)  Douai  (Roman)  1582. 

(4)  King  James'  Version,  1611. 

3.  In  the  nineteenth  century. — Revised  Version, 

1881-1885. 

CO  the  Bible  was  translated  out  of  Hebrew  into 
Greek  for  the  eastern  Christians  who  spoke 
Greek,  and  out  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  into  Latin 
for  the  western  Christians  who  spoke  Latin.  But 
there  appeared  other  people,  with  other  languages. 
The  river  Rhine  and  the  river  Danube,  rising 
not  far  apart,  draw  a  line  across  the  map  of  Europe. 

31 


INTRODUCTION 

North  of  these  rivers  lived  the  Goths,  and  their 
cousins  the  Angles  and  Saxons,  who  became  the 
English,  and  other  related  tribes.  They  spoke 
neither  Hebrew  nor  Greek  nor  Latin,  but  had  a 
language  which  was  somewhat  like  German.  It 
resembled  German  as  the  English  of  a  child  of 
eighteen  months  resembles  the  EngUsh  of  a  youth 
of  eighteen  years. 

These  northern  tribes  kept  coming  down  across 
the  two  rivers  to  attack  the  civilized  people,  who 
below  the  Rhine  spoke  Latin,  and  below  the 
Danube,  Greek.  And  in  the  peaceful  intervals 
between  these  wars.  Christian  missionaries  taught 
these  wild  people  the  Christian  religion. 

The  most  famous  of  these  missionaries  was 
named  Ulfilas.  He  was  a  Goth  who  had  learned 
Greek  and  Latin.  He  wished  to  have  his  people 
know  the  Bible,  and  there  see  what  kind  of  honest 
and  friendly  lives  God  would  have  men  live.  But 
he  saw  that  the  Bible,  in  order  to  do  any  good  to 
any  large  number  of  his  people,  must  be  read  to 
them  in  their  own  language.  Accordingly  he  him- 
self undertook  to  translate  it.  That  was  before 
the  making  of  the  Vulgate.  Jerome  was  then  a 
boy  in  school.  A  part  of  the  New  Testament,  as 
Ulfilas  translated  it,  is  still  preserved  in  Sweden,  at 

32 


THE  BIBLE  IN  ENGLISH 

Upsala,  written  in  letters  of  silver  on  pages  of 
purple  vellum.  One  can  see  in  it  the  German  lan- 
guage, and  even  the  English,  in  their  beginnings; 
like  a  child,  as  I  said,  learning  to  speak.  Thus  the 
first  two  words  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  in 
German  are  Vater  unser,  in  the  Gothic  of  Ulfilas 
are  Atta  unsar;  and  where  we  say  "thy  name/' 
he  said  namo  thein. 

Still  the  Latin  Bible  continued  to  be  read 
everywhere  in  Europe.  The  time  came  when 
almost  everybody  in  France  spoke  French,  and  al- 
most everybody  in  Germany  spoke  German,  and 
almost  everybody  in  England  spoke  English,  and 
Latin  was  understood  only  by  ministers  and  lawyers 
and  teachers  and  other  exceptionally  educated  per- 
sons. Many  of  these  people  wished  to  have  the 
Bible  in  their  own  language,  but  there  was  a  feeling 
among  the  learned  that  it  would  be  irreverent  to 
put  the  sacred  writings  into  such  common  words. 
The  Bible  belonged,  they  said,  to  Hebrew  and 
Greek  and  Latin,  to  the  ancient  languages  in  which 
the  inscription  on  the  cross  had  been  written  by 
Pontius  Pilate,  and  not  to  new,  undignified  and 
vulgar  tongues,  like  German  or  French  or  English. 

And  the  truth  is  that  these  languages  not  only 
seemed  crude  and  queer  to  educated  persons  at 

33 


INTRODUCTION 

that  time,  but  they  seem  quite  as  queer  to  us. 
Today,  only  scholars,  and  they  with  much  diffi- 
culty, can  read  them  in  their  old  forms.  To  trans- 
late the  Bible  into  such  strange  and  awkward 
speech  was  like  translating  it  today  into  the 
grammar  and  spelling  of  people  who  have  never 
been  to  school. 

But  the  common  languages  were  improving,  and, 
anyhow,  there  were  the  common  people  needing 
the  Bible.  More  and  more,  the  souls  of  earnest 
men  were  moved  to  give  it  to  them  in  words  which 
they  could  understand.  At  last,  in  England,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  John  Wycliffe  undertook  to  do 
it.  Wycliffe  was  a  professor  in  the  University  of 
Oxford,  and  the  minister  of  a  parish  in  the  village 
of  Lutterworth.  He  was  a  learned  man  who  was 
deeply  interested  in  the  simple  people.  He  was 
deeply  interested  also  in  the  politics  and  in  the 
religion  of  his  time,  and  he  thought  that  they  both 
needed  to  be  improved.  He  saw  that  they  were 
quite  different  from  the  religion  and  the  politics 
of  the  Bible.  These  differences  which  were  plain 
to  him  he  desired  to  make  plain  to  all  the  people 
by  making  it  possible  for  them  to  read  the  Bible 
for  themselves.  So,  out  of  Latin  into  EngHsh,  he 
and  his  friends  translated  the  whole  Bible.    Copies 

34 


THE  BIBLE  IN  ENGLISH 

of  Wycliffe's  Bible,  or  of  portions  of  it,  laboriously 
made  with  pen  and  ink — ^for  this  was  before 
printing  was  invented — ^were  handed  about  among 
the  people.  They  read  it  with  the  eager  interest  of 
those  who  have  at  last  come  into  possession  of  a 
great  secret  which  they  have  heard  of  all  their 
lives.  Here  was  the  sacred  book,  from  which  the 
minister  read  in  church,  and  out  of  which  he  took 
his  texts.  Now  any  man  might  read  it,  and  judge 
for  himself  whether  that  which  he  was  taught  was 
right,  or  not. 

Not  only,  however,  was  Wycliffe's  Bible  made 
before  the  invention  of  printing,  but  the  EngUsh 
of  Wycliffe's  time  was  not  quite  the  English  which 
we  speak.  The  language  had  improved  much,  but 
it  had  not  come  into  settled  form.  For  example, 
in  the  place  where  our  Bible  says,  ''They  were 
afraid,  and  bowed  down  their  faces  to  the  earth," 
Wycliffe's  Bible  says,  ''Thei  dredden,  and  bowiden 
her  semblaunt  into  erthe."  > 

But  those  differences  of  which  I  spoke,  between 
the  life  described  in  the  Bible  and  the  life  lived  by 
kings  and  nobles,  and  even  by  ministers,  increased 
rather  than  diminished.  And  wars  began  to  be 
fought  between  those  who  wished  to  have  things 
changed  and  those  who  wished  to  have  them  con- 

35 


INTRODUCTION  \ 

tinue  as  they  were.     At  last,  in  the  sixteenth     ' 
century,  in  Germany,  Martin  Luther,  who  was  the 
leader  of  those  who  were  on  the  side  of  change,     ; 
translated  the  Bible  into  German.    It  was  pretty 
hard,  Luther  said,  to  get  the  Hebrew  prophets  to     ; 
speak  German;  but  they  did  it,  both  prophets  and     1 
apostles.    They  spoke  such  good  German,  by  the     \ 
aid  of  Luther,  that  it  became  the  German  language     \ 
at  its  best.    All  German  books,  since  that,  have 
been  written  in  the  German  of  Luther^s  Bible.     I 

A  few  years  later,  Tindale  and  Coverdale  per-     \ 
suaded  the  prophets  and  apostles  to  speak  English. 
Thus  the  EngUsh  Bible  which  we  speak  today     i 
came  into  existence.  i 

William  Tindale  translated  the  New  Testament, 
and  the  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament. 
He  said,  '^I  wish  that  (the  Scriptures)  were  trans-     I 
lated  into  all  languages  of  all  people.    I  wish  that     \ 
the   husbandman   may   sing   parts   of   them   at      | 
his  plough,   that  the  weaver  may  warble  them     \ 
at  his  shuttle,  that  the  traveller  may  with  their 
narratives  beguile  the  weariness  of  the  way.^^  > 

But  Tindale,  like  Wychffe  and  Luther,  was  of     | 

the  party  of  those  who  wished  to  change  the  church. 

He  believed  that  the  men  of  the  Bible  hated  the      ! 

customs  and  beliefs  of  his  time  as  stoutly  as  he      i 

36  ! 

,i 


THE  BIBLE  IN  ENGLISH 

did.  He  wished  them  to  speak  to  the  people  and 
say  so.  He  intended  his  Bible  to  be  a  sword  in  that 
fight.  Naturally,  the  men  who  did  not  agree  with 
him,  whom  he  was  attacking,  did  their  best  to 
take  his  sword  away  from  him.  In  this,  they  did 
not  succeed.  But  they  finally  seized  Tindale,  and 
fastened  him  to  a  stake  and  burned  him  to  death. 
Thus  he  suffered  and  died  for  giving  us  the  great 
gift  of  the  English  Bible. 

Miles  Coverdale,  who  followed  him  in  his  work, 
translated  those  parts  of  the  Bible  which  Tindale 
had  not  undertaken;  that  is,  the  second  half  of 
the  Old  Testament,  from  Job  to  Malachi.  And  he 
made  some  changes  in  Tindale's  version.  The  re- 
sult was  the  great  Bible  of  1539.  The  times  had 
changed  since  the  martyrdom  of  Tindale,  and  this 
Bible,  the  work  of  Tindale  and  Coverdale  together, 
was  published  under  royal  approval,  and  ordered 
to  be  set  up,  for  the  reading  of  the  people,  in  all  the 
churches. 

Thus  the  Bible  was  brought  into  our  own  lan- 
guage. The  translation  has  been  revised  a  number 
of  times;  especially  in  1611,  when  the  revision  was 
called  the  King  James'  Bible;  and  again  in  1881 
and  1885  when  scholars  made  what  is  called  the 
Revised  Version.     But  it  is  still  in  substance  as 

37 


INTRODUCTION 

Tindale  and  Coverdale  made  it.  The  Psalms,  as 
they  are  printed  in  the  Prayer  book,  are  still  in 
Coverdale's  words,  just  as  he  translated  them.  In 
the  King  James'  Bible,  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  St. 
Matthew  has  the  words  ''debts,"  and  in  St.  Luke 
the  word  ''sins.''  When  we  say,  "forgive  us  our 
trespasses,"  we  use  the  words  which  stood  in 
Tindale's  Bible  in  1525,  almost  a  hundred  years 
before  the  Bible  of  King  James. 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 
THE  HISTORICAL  BOOKS 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  TRIANGLE 

II^E  are  now  almost  ready  to  enter  into  the 
Bible  itself.  We  need,  however,  before 
we  begin  our  study,  to  get  some  clear  idea  of 
the  ''lay  of  the  land/^ 

It  is  plain,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  events 
which  are  described  in  the  Old  Testament  took 
place  in  Asia  and  Africa.  Nobody  who  comes  into 
these  pages  lived  in  Europe.  There  is  one  clear 
mention  of  Greece,  there  are  some  references  to 
islands  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  it  is  possible 
that  the  Tarshish  for  which  Jonah  set  sail  was 
some  place  in  Spain.  But  the  scenes  of  the  Old 
Testament  are  in  Asia  and  Africa,  and  more  in 
Asia  than  in  Africa.  As  for  America,  nobody  in 
Europe,  Asia  or  Africa  had  ever  heard  that  there 
was  any  such  place. 

Now  the  two  vast  continents  of  Asia  and  Africa 
touch,  as  you  know,  at  one  point;  though  even 
there,  since  the  Suez  canal  was  cut  through,  they 
no  longer  actually  touch.  The  only  part  of  Africa 
which  comes  clearly  into  view  in  the  Old  Testa- 

41 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

ment  is  the  corner  which  is  nearest  Asia.  And  the 
only  part  of  Asia  which  appears  clearly  is  the 
corner  which  is  nearest  Africa. 

Looking  at  these  two  corners  within  which  all  of 
the  Old  Testament  history  took  place,  we  may 
observe  a  great  triangle.  One  side  begins  at  the 
Red  Sea,  near  the  mouths  of  the  Nile,  and  comes 
up  north-east  along  the  shore  of  the  Mediterranean 
to  the  sources  of  two  great  rivers,  the  Tigris  and 
the  Euphrates.  Another  side  begins  there,  and 
comes  down  following  those  rivers  in  their  course 
south-east  till  they  empty  into  the  Persian  Gulf. 
The  third  side  runs  from  the  Persian  Gulf,  across 
the  desert  of  Arabia,  to  the  Red  Sea.  Most  of  the 
nations  of  whom  we  read  in  the  Old  Testament 
lived  on  the  sides  of  this  triangle. 

Thus  at  the  south-west  corner,  by  the  mouths 
of  the  Nile,  lived  the  Egyptians;  and  at  the  south- 
east corner,  by  the  mouths  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates,  lived  the  Chaldeans.  During  the 
greater  part  of  Old  Testament  history  these  were 
the  two  supreme  nations  of  the  world.  They  were 
in  their  day  what  Greece  and  Rome  later  became, 
the  conquerors  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth; 
except  that  the  Egyptians  and  Chaldeans  lived 
on  the  banks  of  rivers,  while  the  Greeks  and 

42 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  TRIANGLE 

Romans  who  followed  them  Hved  on  peninsulas 
extending  into  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  It  was  not 
till  after  the  days  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  that 
the  vast  oceans,  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  be- 
came sailing  places  for  the  navies  of  new  nations 
in  a  new  age  of  the  world. 

North  of  Egypt,  along  the  western  side  of  the 
triangle,  was  Palestine,  and  north  of  Palestine  was 
Syria.  Beside  Syria,  at  the  point  of  the  triangle, 
was  Mesopotamia.  The  name  means  ^'Between- 
the-Rivers,''  that  is  between  the  Euphrates  and 
the  Tigris.  South  of  Mesopotamia,  coming  down 
along  the  eastern  side,  was  Assyria,  whose  capital 
was  Nineveh,  and  south  of  Assyria  was  Chaldea, 
whose  capital  was  Babylon.  The  base  line  of  the 
triangle  crossed  the  long  desert,  where  only  wander- 
ing tribes  had  their  habitation,  but  from  which,  in 
the  far  past,  most  of  the  peoples  of  the  triangle  had 
come. 

In  consequence  of  this  desert,  almost  all  com- 
munication between  Egypt  and  Chaldea  whether 
for  war  or  for  trade,  was  up  one  side  of  the  triangle 
and  down  the  other.  And  you  see  that,  whichever 
way  they  went,  the  road  ran  through  Palestine. 
Thus  it  was  that  Palestine,  long  before  the  Jews 
conquered  it  and  settled  there,  felt  the  influence, 

43 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

on  one  side  of  Egypt,  and  on  the  other  side,  of 
Chaldea. 

One  time,  when  the  army  of  Israel  fought 
against  Jericho  and  took  it,  a  soldier  found  amt)ng 
the  treasures  of  a  house  whose  inhabitants  had 
fled,  a  "goodly  Babylonish  garment,'^  and  took 
it  for  his  own.  This  garment,  shining  with  color 
and  rich  with  embroidery,  had  come  from  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Old  Testament  triangle.  Per- 
haps some  wandering  merchants  from  Babylon, 
riding  on  camels  and  bringing  precious  things  for 
sale,  had  come  down  the  western  side  as  far  as 
Jericho,  and  there  had  found  a  purchaser. 

And  other  things,  much  more  important  than 
the  fine  clothes  of  Babylon,  were  brought  over  the 
same  long  roads.  One  time,  Jacob  with  Rachel 
his  wife  and  many  servants,  and  many  flocks  and 
herds,  made  the  same  journey.  They  started 
from  Mesopotamia.  Over  they  came,  across  the 
Euphrates,  and  down  beside  the  Jordan.  And 
Rachel  carried  with  her  certain  images  of  gods. 
These  were  what  we  call  idols.  People  had  such 
images  to  look  at  when  they  said  their  prayers. 
So  Joshua  said,  long  after,  to  the  people  of 
Israel,  "Your  father  dwelt  of  old  time  beyond  the 
river,  and  they  served  other  gods.'^    These  were 

44 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  TRIANGLE 

such  gods  as  were  worshipped  in  Assyria  and 
Chaldea. 

Thus  not  only  Babylonish  clothes  but  Baby- 
onish  idols  were  carried  up  one  side  of  the  triangle, 
land  down  the  other.  The  knowledge  of  Babylon 
the  laws  of  Babylon,  the  rehgion  of  Babylon,  came 
into  Palestine.  Not  only  did  the  Hebrews  find 
these  influences  in  the  country  when  they  settled 
in  it,  but  the  Hebrews  themselves  came  from  a 
land  all  of  whose  customs  were  of  the  Babylonish 
kind.  Some  of  these  customs  and  ideas  they  did 
not  like,  and  left  behind,  but  others  they  brought 
with  them. 


45 


WHAT  ABRAHAM  BROUGHT 

Genesis  1-11. 

1.  The  Creation. 

(1)  First  account  1:1-2:3. 

(2)  Second  account  2:4-25. 

2.  The  Fall  3. 

3.  The  Killing  of  Cain  4:1-15. 

4.  The  Flood  6-9. 

5.  The  Tower  of  Babel  11:1-9. 

n~^HE  best  of  all  the  gifts  which  the  country  by 
the  Euphrates  made  to  the  country  by  the 
Mediterranean  was  a  man,  a  great  and  good  man, 
named  Abraham. 

He  was  born  and  brought  up  near  the  peak  of 
the  Old  Testament  triangle,  in  Mesopotamia. 
There  his  father  and  his  grandfather  and  his  ances- 
tors had  lived  for  many  generations.  There  he 
went  to  school,  and  learned  the  knowledge  of  the 
place  and  time;  and  there  he  stayed  till  he  was  a 
grown  man.  Thus  when  he  crossed  the  Euphrates 
and  became  the  first  Hebrew — for  the  name  He- 
brew means  *'the-man-who-crossed'' — ^he  brought 
a  great  store  of  thought  and  experience.    He  knew 

46 


WHAT  ABRAHAM  BROUGHT 

the  ideas  of  the  wisest  men  about  God  and  the 
world  and  man. 

It  was  as  if  the  wisest  man  in  our  town  were  to  go 
to  some  wild  place  in  South  America.  He  would 
carry  his  most  valuable  possessions  not  in  his 
trunk  but  in  his  head.  They  would  be  his  know- 
ledge of  the  earth  and  of  the  stars,  of  science,  of 
history,  of  law  and  government,  and,  most  impor- 
tant of  all,  his  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  the  will 
of  God. 

Thus  came  Abraham,  bringing  the  knowledge 
and  belief,  the  science  and  the  religion,  of  the  east, 
having  in  his  mind  what  his  parents  had  taught 
him  concerning  the  making  of  the  world,  and  the 
beginning  of  the  life  of  man,  and  the  origin  of  sin 
and  pain. 

Fortunately  for  us,  some  of  these  ideas  were  in 
the  form  of  stories.  The  great  difference  between 
a  story  and  a  history  is  not  that  more  exciting 
things  happen  in  the  stories  than  in  the  histories, 
for  that  is  not  always  so;  nor  that  the  people  in 
the  histories  are  real,  while  in  the  stories  they  are 
only  imaginary,  for  the  heroes  of  some  of  the  best 
stories  have  been  real  people;  still  less  is  the  dif- 
ference that  histories  are  true  and  stories  are  not 
true,  for  often  the  story  is  quite  as  true  as  the 

47 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

history.  No,  the  chief  difference  is  that  in  the 
histories  we  are  told  about  the  people,  while  in 
the  stories  we  are  brought  into  the  company  of  the 
people  themselves;  we  hear  them  talk.  Look  at 
the  early  chapters  of  Genesis,  and  you  will  see  that 
they  are  full  of  conversation.  There  is  a  constant 
sound  of  voices.  You  hear  what  Adam  and  Eve 
said  to  one  another  in  the  Garden  of  Eden ;  even 
the  serpent  talks.  God  comes  walking  in  under  the 
trees,  looking  about  in  every  direction,  and  calling 
Adam.  You  will  not  find  anything  like  this  in 
Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
or  in  Macaulay's  History  of  England. 

It  is  fortunate  that  the  knowledge  and  belief 
which  Abraham  brought  were  in  this  story  form, 
because  that  makes  them  interesting  even  to  boys 
and  girls.  It  would  have  been  quite  different  if  it 
had  been  expressed  in  the  language  of  science. 
This  is  another  difference  between  truth  which  is 
put  in  the  form  of  a  story  and  truth  which  is  put 
in  the  form  of  a  history;  the  story  form  lasts 
longer.  The  language  of  science  changes  from 
century  to  century,  but  the  language  of  the  story 
is  never  outworn  because  it  is  the  language  of 
human  life. 

We  know  that  these  stories  were  brought  from 

48 


WHAT  ABRAHAM  BROUGHT 

the  old  home  of  the  Hebrews  in  the  east,  because 
some  of  them  are  found  there  still.  They  had  a 
way,  in  that  old  time,  of  making  books  of  brick. 
They  would  take  a  soft  brick  and  stamp  into  it 
the  letters  of  the  words  and  sentences,  and  when 
the  brick  was  hard  there  was  the  writing  in  a 
lasting  form.  Evidently,  a  brick  book  will  go  un- 
harmed through  fire  and  water  which  would 
entirely  destroy  our  books  of  paper.  In  the 
ruins  of  cities  which  were  destroyed  centuries  ago 
are  found  brick  books  in  which  these  stories 
were  written,  and  the  stories  themselves  were 
already  centuries  old  when  they  were  written  thus 
in  brick. 

There  are  important  differences,  however,  be- 
tween the  stories  which  are  found  on  bricks  in 
Nineveh  or  Babylon  and  those  which  we  read  in 
the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis.  It  is  like 
painting  pictures.  In  order  to  paint  a  picture,  one 
must  have  a  canvas,  and  a  brush,  and  various 
kinds  of  paint;  but  two  artists  may  have  all  this 
alike,  and  be  painting  the  same  scene,  and  yet 
make  very  different  pictures.  For  the  picture 
depends,  after  all,  on  the  painter.  A  great  painter 
is  one  to  whom  God  has  given  a  gift  which  is 
called  genius.    He  knows  what  to  do,  and  how  to 

49 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

do  it,  what  to  bring  into  his  picture,  and  what  to 
leave  out. 

This  is  like  the  difference  between  the  stories 
which  Abraham  had  in  his  memory  as  he  learned 
them  from  his  grandfather,  and  the  stories  which 
he  told  his  sons.  God  had  given  Abraham  a  gift, 
like  genius,  which  is  called  inspiration.  It  enabled 
him  to  see  the  difference  between  the  false  and  the 
true,  and  to  know  more  about  God  than  was 
known  by  other  men.  What  we  have  in  these 
stories  is  the  knowledge  and  belief  of  the  ancient 
world,  brought  out  of  Babylonia  by  Abraham  and 
other  Hebrews,  and  retold  in  the  light  of  their 
better  faith  in  God. 

At  the  heart  of  these  accounts  of  the  Creation, 
and  the  Fall,  and  the  Flood,  and  the  Tower  of 
Babel,  is  the  assurance  of  the  being  and  the  care 
of  God.  '^In  the  beginning,  God  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth."  Gradually,  under  His 
hand,  the  light  came  out  of  the  darkness,  the  sun 
and  stars  appeared,  the  land  was  divided  from  the 
sea,  and  plants  and  animals  and  man  began  to 
grow. 

Then  came  sin,  by  disobedience.  Man,  in  order 
to  be  truly  good,  must  have  opportunity  to  be  bad. 
Otherwise,  his  goodness  is  of  no  value.    It  is  like 

50 


WHAT  ABRAHAM  BROUGHT 

the  goodness  of  a  doll.  True  goodness  is  a  free, 
right  choice.  This  is  the  idea  of  the  Greek  story 
of  Pandora  and  Epimetheus,  which  Hawthorne 
has  retold  in  the  ^^ Paradise  of  Children.'^  In  that 
case,  the  opportunity  to  be  bad  was  given,  you  re- 
member, in  the  command  not  to  open  a  closed 
box.  Pandora  opened  the  box,  and  all  the  pains 
and  sins  of  the  world  flew  out.  This  is  the  same 
lesson  which  is  taught  by  the  forbidden  fruit  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden.  It  matters  little  what  is  for- 
bidden. Something  must  be  forbidden  in  order  to 
make  man's  obedience  of  value,  in  order  to  show 
whether  he  is  good  because  he  desires  to  be  good,  or 
because  he  has  no  opportunity  to  be  bad. 

Then  disobedience  bore  its  natural  fruit.  The 
small  sin  grew  like  the  small  seed.  Cain  and  Abel 
had  quite  different  tastes  and  occupations.  Cain 
was  a  farmer,  and  Abel  was  a  shepherd.  And  they 
disagreed  and  quarreled;  and  Cain  struck  his 
brother  and  killed  him.  By-and-by  the  world 
was  so  bad  that  it  seemed  necessary  to  do  with  it 
as  one  does  with  a  blackboard  when  all  the  figures 
go  wrong;  man  had  to  be  washed  off  the  surface  of 
the  earth.    Thus  the  Flood  came. 

But  even  after  that,  the  race  of  man  went  wrong 
again.    The  Tower  of  Babel  was  built  as  a  fortress 

51 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

in  which  men  might  defend  themselves  against 
another  Flood,  and  against  God.  So  God  scattered 
them  abroad.  Away  they  went,  in  the  direction 
of  the  four  winds,  and  formed  separate  nations, 
speaking  different  languages.  The  list  of  names  in 
the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis  represents  them. 

At  last,  out  of  these  many  nations,  a  single 
people  was  selected  that  God  might  teach  His 
truth  to  them  particularly,  and  that  they  might 
teach  His  truth  to  the  others.  This  chosen  nation 
was  the  Hebrew  people.  And  the  first  Hebrew  was 
Abraham. 


52 


FROM  MESOPOTAMIA  TO  EGYPT 

Genesis  12-50. 

1.  Abraham 

(1)  The  Call  12:1-8. 

(2)  The  departure  of  Lot  13:5-18. 

a.  The  kings  invade  Sodom  14:1-24. 
h.  The  storm  destroys  Sodom  18:16-33, 
19:15-26. 

(3)  The  dream  of  the  flaming  torch  15:1-18. 

2.  Isaac. 

(1)  The  sacrifice,  22:1-19. 

(2)  The  selection  of  Rebekah,  24. 

3.  Jacob. 

(1)  The  supplanting  of  Esau,  27. 

(2)  The  dream  of  the  ladder  and  the  angels,  28. 

(3)  The  wooing  of  Rachel,  29:1-30. 

(4)  The  meeting  with  Esau  32:1-33:19. 

4.  Joseph. 

(1)  The  selling  of  Joseph,  37. 

(2)  The  explaining  of  the  dreams,  40,  41. 

(3)  Joseph  and  his  brethren,  42-45. 

(4)  The  settlement  in  Egypt,  46:1-7,  47-50. 

TI/'E  have  now  come  a  little  way  into  the  first 

book  of  the  Bible,  and  have  fairly  started 

on  our  journey.    We  are  now  to  follow  the  history 

of  the  Hebrew  people  as  one  might  follow  the 

53 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

course  of  a  river,  not  stopping  long  in  any  place, 
now  passing  through  a  forest  and  now  through  a 
city,  tracing  the  stream  from  the  spring  to  the 
sea.  And  first  we  are  to  go  through  the  remaining 
chapters  of  the  book  of  Genesis. 

Abraham,  being  called  of  God,  rose  up  from 
among  his  neighbors,  and  went  out  to  begin  a  new 
nation.  He  and  the  people  with  him  were  colonists 
like  those  who  came  to  Jamestown  in  1607,  and  to 
Plymouth  in  1620.  And,  like  the  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
what  they  desired  was  not  only  new  lands,  but 
freedom  to  worship  God  in  their  own  way.  It  was 
perhaps  fifteen  hundred  years  before  Christ,  when 
the  Hebrews  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and  made 
their  way  down  the  western  side  of  the  Triangle 
into  what  is  now  called  Palestine. 

Once  they  stopped  at  a  great  tree,  by  Shechem, 
a  vast  oak,  in  whose  mighty  branches  as  the  wind 
blew  Abraham  heard  a  voice  like  the  voice  of  God, 
which  told  him  that  all  that  land  should  some  day 
belong  to  his  children  and  his  children's  children. 
They  never  forgot  it,  but  even  in  distant  countries, 
and  in  slavery,  they  remembered  the  promise  and 
called  the  land  the  Promised  Land. 

Another  time  they  stopped  by  a  high  mountain, 
near  Bethel,  and  Abraham  and  Lot,  his  nephew, 

54 


THE  MESOPOTAMIA  TO  EGYPT 

climbed  its  heights  and  looked  out  over  the  land 
to  the  south.  And  Abraham  said,  *^  Lot,  you  know 
how  many  flocks  and  herds  we  have  and  how  when 
we  feed  them  and  water  them  our  herdsmen  fight 
for  the  best  places.  Let  us  have  no  more  strife. 
Let  us  settle  down  peacefully  apart.  You  go  your 
way  and  I  will  go  my  way.  Behold  the  land. 
Which  part  will  you  take?''  Now  there  were  gray 
hills  to  the  right  and  a  green  valley  to  the  left,  and 
Lot  chose  the  valley.  There  he  settled  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  a  hard 
time  he  had  of  it.  For  the  place  was  not  so 
pleasant  as  it  looked,  nor  were  the  people  who  lived 
there  so  good  as  they  ought  to  have  been  in  so 
fair  a  land.  Once  while  Lot  lived  there,  the  cities 
were  taken  by  enemies  and  the  people  carried 
away  captive.  And  finally  the  cities  were  de- 
stroyed in  a  terrible  rain  of  fire  and  brimstone. 
Lot  escaped,  and  became  the  father  of  two  great 
peoples  who  lived  east  of  the  Dead  Sea,  the  Am- 
monites and  the  Moabites. 

Presently,  Abraham  had  two  sons.  The  mother 
of  Ismael,  the  older,  was  Hagar.  She  was  servant 
to  Sarah,  Abraham's  wife,  who  was  the  mother  of 
Isaac.  For  in  those  days  men  often  had  more 
than  one  wife.     But  the  wives  quarrelled,  and 

55 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

Sarah  sent  Hagar  and  Ishmael  away.  So  they 
went  into  the  desert,  the  mother  and  the  little 
boy,  and  there  was  no  water  to  drink,  and  they 
came  near  dying  of  thirst.  But  God  showed 
Hagar  a  spring  of  water.  So  the  lad  lived,  and 
dwelt  in  the  wilderness,  and  became  the  father  of 
the  Arabs,  who  were  called  Ismaelites;  even  as 
Lot  had  become  the  father  of  the  Ammonites  and 
Moabites. 

After  the  departure  of  Ishmael,  Abraham^s  only 
son  was  Isaac.  His  birth  had  been  promised  by  an 
angel,  and  he  was  to  be  his  father^s  heir,  and 
Abraham  and  Sarah  loved  him  dearly.  But  in  the 
land  from  which  Abraham  came,  and  in  the 
country  where  he  dwelt,  there  was  a  belief  that  the 
best  gift  which  a  father  and  mother  can  give  to 
God  is  one  of  their  own  children,  and  the  way  in 
which  they  gave  this  gift  was  to  take  the  child  and 
tie  his  hands  and  feet  and  lay  him  on  a  pile  of  wood 
and  set  the  wood  on  fire.  And  it  came  into  the 
heart  of  Abraham  that  he  ought  to  do  that  dread- 
ful thing.  He  took  his  Uttle  son  whom  he  loved, 
his  only  son,  and  made  ready  to  offer  him  in  this 
way  as  a  sacrifice.  But  at  the  very  moment  when 
he  was  standing  with  his  knife  uplifted  a  great 
voice  sounded  in  his  heart,  and  told  him  not  to  do 

56 


FROM  MESOPOTAMIA  TO  EGYPT 

it.  And  God  showed  him  a  ram  caught  in  a 
thicket,  and  this  he  sacrificed  in  the  place  of  his 
son.  Thus  Abraham  was  taught  a  lesson,  which 
men  in  the  old  time  learned  very  slowly,  that  God 
does  not  desire  human  sacrifice.  It  appears  again 
in  the  story  of  Iphigenia,  where  the  Greeks  were 
waiting  days  and  days  for  a  breeze  to  take  their 
ships  to  Troy,  till  at  last  Agamemnon,  the  admiral 
of  the  fleet,  was  compelled  to  sacrifice  his  daughter, 
Iphigenia;  but  one  of  the  gods  took  her  away,  and 
placed  a  doe  on  the  altar  in  her  stead. 

When  Isaac  was  grown  to  manhood,  his  father 
sent  a  trusted  servant  to  find  him  a  wife  in  the  old 
country  beyond  the  Euphrates.  And  the  servant 
found  Isaac's  cousin  Rebekah.  She  was  drawing 
water  at  the  well  when  the  servant  met  her,  and 
she  went  back  with  him  and  became  the  wife  of 
Isaac.  Then  Isaac  and  Rebekah  had  two  sons, 
Jacob  and  Esau.  But  when  they  became  men  they 
had  a  great  quarrel  because  Jacob  deceived  his 
father  in  his  old  age  and  got  the  blessing  which 
Isaac  had  intended  for  Esau.  After  that,  there  is 
little  more  said  of  Esau.  As  Abraham  had  been 
chosen  and  Lot  left  to  be  the  father  of  the  Am- 
monites and  Moabites;  and  as  Isaac  had  been 
chosen,  and  Ishmael  left  to  be  the  father  of  the 

57 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

Arabs;  so  now  Jacob  was  chosen  and  Esau  became 
the  father  of  the  Edomites,  a  tribe  which  lived 
south-east  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Then  the  name  of 
Jacob  was  changed  to  Israel,  which  means  a 
'^  prince  of  God/'  and  thereafter  the  interest  is 
centered  on  the  fortunes  of  his  children  and  de- 
scendents,  the  Israelites. 

Jacob  fled  from  the  anger  of  his  brother  Esau, 
and  went  beyond  the  Euphrates  to  his  uncle 
Laban's.  And  on  the  way  he  dreamed  a  dream. 
And  in  the  dream  he  heard  the  voice  of  God  as  his 
grandfather  Abraham  had  heard  it  long  before. 
For  Abraham  had  dreamed  that  he  saw  a  flaming 
torch  pass  between  the  divided  pieces  of  a  sacrifice, 
and  that  God  said,  ^^Unto  thy  children  have  I 
given  all  this  land.''  Now  Jacob  dreamed,  and 
behold  a  shining  ladder  reached  from  earth  to 
heaven,  and  angels  were  climbing  up  and  climbing 
down  upon  it,  and  God  said,  ^'Thy  seed  shall  be  as 
the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  thou  shalt  spread  abroad 
to  the  west,  and  to  the  east,  and  to  the  north  and  to 
the  south;  and  in  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the 
families  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 

So  Jacob  went  to  his  uncle  Laban's,  and  there 
stayed  many  years.  And  he  married  his  cousin 
Leah  and  his  cousin  Rachel.    And  when  at  last  he 

58 


FROM  MESOPOTAMIA  TO  EGYPT 

came  back  again  to  the  Promised  Land  he  had 
many  sheep  and  many  cattle.  And  Jacob  had 
twelve  sons.  Thus  he  came  again  to  Shechem, 
where  Abraham  had  heard  the  voice  of  God  as  the 
wind  blew  in  the  tree.  A  range  of  mountains  runs 
through  the  length  of  Palestine,  from  north  to 
south.  At  the  middle  of  the  range  there  is  a  pass. 
The  hills  divide,  and  a  green  valley  hes  between. 
Along  this  valley  one  may  go  from  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean  on  the  west  to  the  bank  of  the 
Jordan  on  the  east.  On  one  side  of  the  valley  is 
Mount  Ebal,  and  on  the  other  side  Mount  Ger- 
ezim.  Shechem  was  in  this  pleasant  valley.  There 
they  settled,  having  pasture  for  their  flocks  and 
herds. 

Of  his  twelve  sons,  Jacob  liked  Joseph  best.  But 
this  displeased  his  brothers  and  they  hated  him. 
And  one  day,  when  they  were  in  the  fields,  they 
seized  Joseph  and  sold  him  to  a  caravan  of  Ish- 
maelites  who  were  on  their  way  to  Egypt,  and  they 
told  their  father  that  a  wild  beast  had  devoured 
him.  Joseph  was  carried  down  to  Egypt,  and  sold 
as  a  slave  to  the  keeper  of  the  king^s  prison.  And 
one  time,  in  the  prison,  the  king^s  butler  and  the 
king's  baker  dreamed  strange  dreams,  and  Joseph 
explained  them,  and  the  dreams  came  true  even  as 

59 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

Joseph  had  said.  So  presently  when  Pharaoh 
the  king  had  a  mysterious  dream  which  nobody 
could  explain,  he  sent  for  Joseph.  Now  the  dream 
was  that  seven  thin  and  lean  cows  ate  up  seven  fat 
cows,  and  again  that  seven  thin  and  withered  ears 
of  corn  swallowed  up  seven  good  ears.  Joseph  said 
that  this  meant  that  seven  years  of  plenty  would 
be  followed  by  seven  years  of  famine.  And  he 
ventured  to  advise  Pharoah  to  gather  into  great 
storehouses  the  crops  of  the  seven  years  of  fertility, 
that  there  might  be  food  for  the  seven  years  of 
dearth.  This  pleased  the  king,  and  he  took  Joseph 
out  of  the  prison  and  set  him  on  the  throne  beside 
him,  and  appointed  him  over  this  business.  Thus 
Joseph  became  the  ruler,  next  to  the  king,  of  all 
the  land  of  Egypt. 

Then  the  years  of  famine  came,  and  the  crops 
failed  even  in  the  green  valley  of  Shechem.  And 
the  brothers  of  Joseph  had  to  go  down  to  Egypt  to 
buy  corn  out  of  the  storehouses  which  Joseph  had 
built.  And  there  was  Joseph!  At  first,  they  did 
not  know  him,  as  he  sat  in  state;  but,  after  sev- 
eral interesting  adventures,  he  revealed  himself  to 
them,  and  sent  for  his  father  Jacob  to  come  down 
and  live  in  Egypt.  Back  went  the  brothers,  then, 
with  wagons,  and  Jacob  and  all  his  family  departed 

60 


FROM  MESOPOTAMIA  TO  EGYPT 

from  Shechem,  left  the  Promised  Land  behind 
them,  and  took  up  their  residence  in  Egypt.  There 
they  settled,  with  their  flocks  and  herds,  in  the 
pleasant  pastures  of  the  province  of  Goshen, 
between  the  Delta  of  the  Nile  and  the  Isthmus  of 
Suez. 


61 


FROM  THE  NILE  TO  MOUNT  SINAI 

Exodus  1-17. 

1.  The  education  of  Moses. 

(1)  In  Egypt:    Pharaoh's  daughter,  2. 

(2)  In  Midian:    The  burning  bush,  3. 

2.  The  mission  of  Moses. 

(1)  The  plagues,  8-10. 

(2)  The  Passover,  12. 

3.  The  passage  of  the  Red  Sea. 

(1)  The  east  wind,  14. 

(2)  The  song  of  rejoicing,  15. 

4.  On  the  way  to  Sinai. 

(1)  The  provision  of  bread,  16:1-15. 

(2)  The  provision  of  water,  17:1-7. 

(3)  The  fight  with  Amalek,  17:8-16. 

npHEN  years  passed,  so  many  that  the  great  ser- 
vices of  Joseph  were  forgotten.  Jacob  died, 
and  Joseph  and  his  brothers  died,  and  new  kings 
came  to  the  throne  of  Egypt.  But  the  children  of 
Israel  in  the  land  of  Goshen  prospered  and  in 
creased.  At  last,  there  were  so  many  of  them  that 
the  Egyptians  became  alarmed.  '^What  would 
happen,"  they  said,  ''if  we  should  be  invaded  by 
an  enemy.  The  Children  of  Israel  might  fight 
against  us.''    For  any  invading  enemy  must  come 

62 


FROM  THE  NILE  TO  MOUNT  SINAI 

down  through  that  part  of  the  country  in  which 
the  IsraeHtes  Hved.  So  they  brought  the  Israel- 
ites into  bondage.  They  made  them  slaves.  Fin- 
ally they  made  a  law  that  every  boy  baby  among 
them  must  be  put  to  death. 

In  spite  of  this  law,  the  child  Moses  escaped. 
His  mother  made  a  little  boat  out  of  a  basket,  and 
put  the  baby  in  it  at  a  place  on  the  river  Nile 
where  Pharaoh^s  daughter  came  to  bathe.  So  she 
found  the  child  and  adopted  it.  Moses  was 
brought  up  in  the  palace.  But  he  never  forgot  that 
he  was  an  Israelite.  One  day,  being  in  the  field 
where  the  Children  of  Israel  were  at  work,  and  the 
Egyptians  were  driving  them  with  whips  to  make 
them  work  faster,  Moses  saw  an  Egyptian  beating 
an  Israelite  so  cruelly  that  he  went  to  defend  him, 
and  in  the  fight  he  killed  the  Egyptian.  Thus  it 
became  known  to  the  king  that  the  sympathies  of 
Moses  were  with  his  own  people.  He  had  to  flee 
for  his  life.  Away  he  went,  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Suez,  into  Arabia,  to  the  land  of  Midian.  There 
he  stayed,  and  presently  married  a  daughter  of 
Jethro,  a  priest  of  the  religion  of  that  country. 

Still  he  remembered  his  people.  And  one  day, 
as  he  tended  Jethro^s  flocks  in  the  shadow  of 
Sinai,  he  saw  a  bush  mysteriously  burning,  and 

63 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

heard  in  his  soul  the  voice  of  God.  God  said  that 
He  too  remembered  the  Children  of  Israel,  and 
was  ready  to  help  them.  ''You  must  go,"  He 
said  to  Moses,''  and  deliver  them  out  of  their 
bondage  in  Egypt."  So  Moses,  with  his  brother 
Aaron,  went  on  this  mission  to  Egypt. 

Four  books — ^Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers  and 
Deuteronomy — describe  the  life  and  services  of 
Moses.  He  became  the  leader  and  the  lawgiver  of 
the  people.  First,  he  led  them  out  of  Egypt,  over 
the  Red  Sea,  and  through  the  wilderness  east,  to 
Sinai.  The  account  of  it  is  in  the  first  half  of 
Exodus.  There,  at  Sinai,  he  gave  them  laws.  The 
second  half  of  Exodus,  the  whole  of  Leviticus,  the 
first  part  and  the  last  part  of  Numbers,  and  the 
whole  of  Deuteronomy  are  filled  with  laws. 
Finally,  leaving  Sinai,  he  led  them  in  the  wilder- 
ness till  they  marched  north,  by  the  lands  of 
Edom  and  Moab,  to  begin  the  conquest  of  Canaan. 
This  march  is  described  in  the  middle  part  of 
Numbers.  We  are  concerned,  then,  with  the 
leadership  of  Moses  from  Egypt  to  Mount  Sinai, 
with  the  laws  at  Sinai,  and  with  the  leadership  of 
Moses  from  Sinai  to  Canaan. 

The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  get  the  Israelites  out 

of  Egypt. 

64 


FROM  THE  NILE  TO  MOUNT  SINAI 

Moses  and  Aaron  petitioned  Pharaoh  to  let  the 
people  go  that  they  might  hold  a  reUgious  festival 
in  the  wilderness.  But  his  answer  was  not  only  a 
refusal  but  an  increase  of  their  burdens.  He  said 
that  they  were  idle,  and  must  be  made  to  work 
harder. 

Then  came  a  series  of  calamities.  All  the  afflic- 
tions to  which  the  land  of  Egypt  was  subject  came 
one  after  another,  worse  than  had  ever  been 
known.  In  the  midst  of  every  plague,  Moses  and 
Aaron  went  to  Pharaoh  and  said,  ^^The  Lord  com- 
mands you  to  let  His  people  go.''  And  every  time, 
the  king  promised;  but  when  the  plague  ceased,  he 
refused.  Thus  the  Nile  ran  red  like  blood,  and  out 
of  the  discolored  river  came  great  multitudes  of 
frogs,  and  the  dying  and  decaying  frogs  bred  flies, 
and  the  flies  spread  disease  so  that  there  were 
boils  on  every  man  and  beast;  and  hail  came,  with 
thunder  and  lightning;  and  an  east  wind  brought 
swarms  of  locusts,  and  a  west  wind  brought  sand 
from  the  desert,  so  that  the  day  was  as  black  as 
night,  and  the  darkness  could  even  be  felt.  At 
last,  in  every  family  in  Egypt,  the  first-born  died. 

For  this  tragedy,  Moses  had  prepared  the 
Israelites.  He  told  them  to  mark  their  houses. 
"Let  every  family  kill  a  lamb,  and  dip  a  bunch  of 

65 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

hyssop  in  the  blood  and  strike  it  on  the  lintel  of 
the  door  and  on  the  two  side  posts.  Thus  shall 
God  see  your  houses  and  pass  over  them  when  He 
comes  to  smite  the  Egyptians/'  Afterwards,  they 
called  this  the  Passover,  and  kept  a  feast  every  year, 
and  do  so  to  this  day,  in  memory  of  it.  Pharaoh 
called  for  Moses  and  Aaron.  '^Go,''  he  said, 
'^worship  the  Lord  as  you  have  requested."  And 
the  Egyptians  hastened  them,  giving  them  jewels 
of  gold  and  silver,  and  leaving  them  not  even  time 
enough  to  bake  their  bread.  Away  they  went, 
carrying  the  dough  without  yeast,  unleavened.  It 
was  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  and  the  moon  was 
full. 

There  were  two  roads  out  of  Egypt.  One  ran  to 
the  north-east,  along  the  shore  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea,  and  was  called  the  Way  of  the  Philis- 
tines, because  it  led  into  the  Philistine  country. 
The  other  ran  to  the  south-east,  across  the  penin- 
sula which  makes  a  little  thumb  to  the  great 
mitten  of  Arabia.  This  was  called  the  Way  of  the 
Sea.  The  Israelites  chose  the  southern  route, 
being  afraid  of  the  Philistines.  On  they  marched, 
hurrying  to  get  out  of  reach  of  the  Egyptians. 
When  a  caravan  crosses  the  desert,  a  leader  goes 
before  with  a  long  pole  at  the  top  of  which  is  a 

66 


FROM  THE  NILE  TO  MOUNT  SINAI 

brazier  of  burning  coals;  and  in  the  day,  the 
smoke  rises  in  a  column  which  is  seen  from  long 
distances  over  the  level  land;  and  in  the  night, 
the  pillar  of  smoke  is  like  a  pillar  of  fire.  Thus  the 
Lord  led  them. 

But  the  Way  of  the  Sea,  being  one  of  the  en- 
trances of  Egypt,  was  fortified.  A  wall  crossed  it, 
with  a  guard  of  soldiers.  And  as  the  Israelites 
came  near  the  wall,  the  Egyptians  came  in  sight, 
pursuing  them.  Even  the  last  plague  had  not  con- 
vinced them  that  they  were  contending  against 
God.  They  explained  it,  as  they  had  explained  the 
others,  as  a  natural  calamity  which  had  no  con- 
nection with  the  Israelites.  So  they  came,  with 
horses  and  chariots  and  fighting  men,  to  capture 
these  escaping  slaves.  And  there  were  the  children 
of  Israel,  with  the  wall  and  the  sea  before  them, 
and  the  pursuers  coming  up  behind. 

Then,  that  night,  the  Lord  caused  a  great 
wind  to  blow  out  of  the  east,  and  it  blew  away  the 
water  of  the  shallow  sea,  and  the  Children  of 
Israel  marched  over  on  firm  ground.  And  in  the 
morning,  the  wind  changed,  and  the  sea  came 
back,  and  the  Egyptians,  who  were  following  the 
Israelites  even  to  the  midst  of  the  sea,  were 
drowned.    Thus  the  long  slavery  of  the  Israelites 

67 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

came  to  an  end,  and  they  were  out  of  Egypt,  a 
free  people. 

The  peninsula  into  which  the  Israelites  thus 
entered  is  enclosed  between  two  long  and  narrow 
gulfs  of  the  Red  Sea.  The  people  had  crossed  one 
of  these,  called  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  and  they  made 
their  way  to  the  other,  called  the  Gulf  of  Akabah. 
Some  think  that  they  did  this  by  first  going  down 
to  the  end  of  the  peninsula  and  then  going  up  on 
the  other  side.  Some  think  that  they  went  straight 
across  the  top.    Thus  taking  a  triangle  to  repre- 

AV      /B  D 

sent  the  peninsula,  like  this  V  A  is  the  top 
of  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  B  is  the  top  of  the  Gulf  of 
Akabah,  and  C  is  where  Mount  Sinai  is  found  by 
those  who  are  of  the  first  opinion.  But  D  repre- 
sents the  location  of  Mount  Sinai,  according  to 
those  who  hold  the  second  opinion.  Against  find- 
ing Sinai  in  the  lower  part  of  the  peninsula  is  the 
difiiculty  of  understanding  why  the  Israelites 
should  have  gone  in  that  direction,  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  desolate  hills.  In  favor  of  finding 
Sinai  outside  the  peninsula  is  the  fact  that  it  is 
thus  placed  in  the  friendly  land  of  Midian.  Not 
only  would  they  naturally  go  there  for  protection, 
but  there  it  was  apparently  that  Moses  had  found 
Sinai  as  he  fed  Jethro^s  flocks,  and  had  been  told 

68 


FROM  THE  NILE  TO  MOUNT  SINAI 

by  the  Lord  to  return  thither  when  he  should  have 
brought  the  people  out.  Probably  he  led  them 
from  A  to  B  and  then  to  D. 

Three  things  happened  by  the  way.  One  time, 
there  was  nothing  to  eat,  and  the  people  were  so 
hungry  that  they  were  sorry  they  had  left  Egypt; 
but  God  gave  them  manna,  as  if  it  had  rained  down 
from  the  sky.  Another  time,  there  was  nothing  to 
drink,  and  the  people  were  so  thirsty  that  again 
they  wished  that  they  had  stayed  in  Egypt;  but 
Moses  found  water  for  them,  striking  a  great  rock, 
and  bringing  it  out.  Also  a  wild  people,  the 
Amalekites,  who  roamed  about  the  desert,  attacked 
them,  but  the  Israelites  were  victorious,  fighting 
in  the  valley  while  Moses,  with  uplifted  hands, 
prayed  on  the  side  of  the  hill.  These  incidents 
show  how  the  Israelites  felt  themselves  to  be  under 
the  protection  of  God,  who  provided  for  their 
needs,  and  fought  their  battles. 


THE  GIVING  OF  THE  LAW 

1.  Moses  receives  the  law  from  God. 

(1)  The  Ten  Commandments 

a.  The  Moral  law,  Exodus  20:1-17  Deut- 

eronomy, 5. 

b.  The  Ceremonial  law.  Exodus  34:1-28. 

(2)  The  Golden  Calf,  Exodus  32. 

2.  Moses  appoints  judges  to  administer  the  law: 

Exodus  18. 

3.  The  book  of  the  moral  law:    Deuteronomy. 

4.  The  book  of  the  ceremonial  law:    Leviticus. 

^T^HUS  they  came,  after  these  adventures,  to  the 
mountain  toward  which  their  journey  had 
been  directed.  There  in  the  shadow  of  Mount 
Sinai  they  pitched  their  tents,  and  rested  at  last 
after  their  long  flight  from  Egypt.  They  were  a 
great  multitude  of  weary  and  frightened  people. 
The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  bring  order  out  of 
their  confusion.  They  must  be  taught  to  obey, 
for  that  is  the  very  beginning  of  civilization,  and 
they  must  be  told  what  laws  they  must  obey. 

There  was  a  storm  raging  on  the  top  of  the 
mountain,  with  lightning  flashing  and  thunder 
rolling;     and  Moses  went  up  into  the  storm  to 

70 


THE  GIVING  OF  THE  LAW 

speak  with  God,  to  learn  the  laws  of  God.  But 
there  he  stayed,  day  after  day,  till  the  people 
thought  that  he  was  never  coming  down  again,  and 
they  made  Aaron  their  leader,  and  got  him  to  make 
an  image  to  which  they  might  say  their  prayers; 
for  all  nations  at  that  time  had  idols  which  they 
worshipped  as  their  gods.  Nowhere  were  any 
people  who  knelt  down,  as  we  do,  and  spoke  to  the 
unseen.  So  the  Israelites  wished  to  have  an  image 
for  their  god.  Now  they  all  wore  golden  ear-rings, 
the  men  and  boys  as  well  as  the  women  and  girls, 
and  these  they  gave  to  Aaron,  and  he  made  a 
golden  calf.  Then,  as  they  were  praying  and  sing- 
ing to  the  golden  calf,  down  came  Moses.  And 
Moses  took  the  calf  and  broke  it  into  a  thousand 
pieces,  and  threw  the  pieces  into  the  river;  and 
he  told  them  that  God  is  not  like  a  calf,  nor  like 
anything  else  which  we  can  see,  but  is  the  invisible 
Father  of  men. 

Then,  again,  he  went  into  the  mountain,  and 
when  he  came  down,  he  brought  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments with  him.  And  Moses  taught  the 
people  the  laws  of  God.  Day  by  day,  when  any- 
body did  wrong  he  was  brought  to  Moses  that  he 
might  be  judged,  and  all  disputes  were  referred  to 
Moses  that  he  might  settle  them  according  to  the 

71 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

will  of  God.  Thus  the  laws  increased  in  number; 
first,  the  great,  universal  laws  which  Moses  had 
learned  of  God;  then  the  many  little  laws  which 
Moses  made  to  fit  the  great  laws  to  the  conduct  of 
the  people. 

One  day,  Jethro  came,  the  father-in-law  of 
Moses,  and  Moses'  wife  came  with  him.  And 
Jethro,  who  was  now  an  old  man,  saw  that  Moses 
was  trying  to  do  more  than  his  strength  could  bear, 
and  more  than  there  was  time  for  in  a  day,  and  he 
gave  him  some  good  advice.  He  advised  Moses  to 
get  men  to  help  him  in  this  matter  of  the  law.  He 
said  that  Moses  might  decide  the  great  cases,  but 
that  he  ought  to  teach  other  men  how  to  deal  with 
the  little  cases.  And  Moses  followed  his  advice. 
He  appointed  seventy  judges  who  took  the  laws 
of  Moses  and  used  them  in  their  daily  dealing 
with  the  people,  themselves  deciding  most  disputes 
but  bringing  the  more  important  troubles  to 
Moses. 

So  now  there  were  three  kinds  of  law;  first,  the 
divine  law,  the  immediate  commands  of  God;  then 
the  law  of  Moses,  being  the  divine  law  as  he  ex- 
plained and  applied  it;  and  then  the  law  of  the 
helpers  of  Moses,  being  the  decisions  of  Moses  ex- 
tended to  new  cases.     Thus  the  law  grew  like  a 

72 


THE  GIVING  OF  THE  LAW 

tree,  with  the  word  of  God  for  the  seed,  the  word  of 
Moses  for  the  stem,  and  the  words  of  the  assistants 
and  successors  of  Moses  for  the  branches.  All 
these  laws,  beginning  at  Mount  Sinai,  and  growing 
through  hundreds  of  years,  are  set  down  in  the 
last  half  of  Exodus,  the  first  and  last  parts  of 
Numbers,  and  the  whole  of  Leviticus  and  Deuter- 
onomy. 

For  a  long  time,  the  laws  were  unwritten. 
People  carried  them  in  their  memory.  The  oldest 
laws  are  probably  in  Exodus  (20-23).  They  are 
called  the  Book  of  the  Covenant.  Then,  probably 
in  the  time  of  King  Josiah,  the  Book  of  Deuter- 
onomy was  written,  recalling  what  Moses  had 
said  about  right  conduct;  and  probably  in  the 
time  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  the  Book  of  Leviticus 
was  written,  recalling  what  Moses  had  said  about 
the  right  worship  of  God. 

Thus  Deuteronomy  contains  laws  of  conduct. 
It  tells  people  to  be  honest  and  fair,  to  be  good  to 
the  poor,  to  speak  the  truth.  It  says  that  if  any- 
body finds  a  bird's  nest  in  a  tree  or  on  the  ground, 
with  a  mother  bird  and  eggs  or  little  ones,  they 
must  not  hurt  the  mother  bird  (Deut.  22  ;6). 
And  whoever  builds  a  house,  must  put  a  battle- 
ment or  fence  along  the  edge  of  the  roof  to  keep 

73 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

men  from  falling  off  (Deut.  22:8).  ''When  thou 
cuttest  down  thine  harvest  in  thy  field,  and  hast 
forgot  a  sheaf  in  the  field,  thou  shalt  not  go  again 
to  fetch  it;  it  shall  be  for  the  stranger,  for  the 
fatherless,  and  for  the  widow;  that  the  Lord  thy 
God  may  bless  thee  in  all  the  work  of  thine  hands'' 
(Deut.  24:19). 

Leviticus  contains  laws  of  worship.  It  describes 
the  different  kinds  of  sacrifice,  and  how  they  are 
to  be  offered.  ''He  shall  bring  his  offering  of 
turtle  doves,  or  of  young  pigeons.  And  the  priest 
shall  bring  it  unto  the  altar;  and  the  blood  thereof 
shall  be  wrung  out  at  the  side  of  the  altar;  and  he 
shall  pluck  away  his  crop  with  his  feathers,  and 
cast  it  beside  the  altar  on  the  east  part,  by  the 
place  of  the  ashes;  and  he  shall  cleanse  it  with  the 
wings  thereof,  but  shall  not  divide  it  asunder,  and 
the  priest  shall  burn  it  upon  the  altar''  (Leviticus 
1:14-17).  You  see  how  different  are  these  direc- 
tions about  birds  in  Leviticus  from  the  directions 
about  birds  in  Deuteronomy. 


74 


FROM   MOUNT   SINAI  TO  THE  JORDAN 

1.  The  tabernacle  and  the  ark,  Exodus  26,  27. 

2.  The  garments  of  the  priests.  Exodus  28. 

3.  The  sending  of  the  spies,  Numbers  13:17-14:41. 

4.  The  march  to  the  Promised  Land. 

(1)  The  King  of  Edom  will  not  permit  them 

to  pass  through.    Numbers  20:14-21. 

(2)  They  conquer  Sihon,  King  of  the  Ammon- 

ites, Numbers  21 :21-35. 
(4)  Balak,  King  of  Moab,  employs  the  ma- 
gician, Balaam,  Numbers  22-24. 

5.  The  death  of  Moses. 

(1)  The  song  of  Moses,  Deuteronomy  32:1-43 

(2)  The  blessing  of  Moses,  Deuteronomy  33. 

(3)  The  burial  of  Moses,  Deuteronomy  34. 

npHE  Ten  Commandments  were  inscribed  on 
twotablets  of  stone  and  put  in  a  chest, 
which  they  called  the  Ark,  and  the  Ark  was  kept 
in  a  tent,  called  the  Tabernacle,  which  was  their 
church.  This  church  they  carried  with  them,  wher- 
ever they  went.  Years  after,  when  they  built  the 
Temple  in  Jerusalem,  they  made  it  like  the  Tab- 
ernacle, but  in  stone  and  gold;  there  was  an  altar 

75 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

on  which  they  burned  animals  which  they  had 
killed,  to  offer  them  to  God;  and  an  altar  on  which 
they  sprinkled  incense  to  make  a  fragrant  smoke; 
and  in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  behind  a  curtain,  was 
the  Ark.  It  was  then  the  only  church  in  the  world 
which  contained  no  image  of  God.  The  Com- 
mandments were  their  symbol  of  God. 

Aaron  and  his  sons  were  appointed  to  serve  at 
these  altars  and  to  minister  in  this  church.  Direc- 
tions were  given  as  to  the  garments  which  they 
were  to  wear.  Aaron  was  to  be  dressed  in  a  white 
gown  fringed  with  blue  and  purple  and  scarlet 
pomegranates,  like  little  apples,  and  between  the 
pomegranates  little  golden  bells  to  make  a  tinkling 
as  he  walked.  And  he  had  a  breast  plate  contain- 
ing twelve  jewels,  on  which  were  inscribed  the 
names  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  And  on  his 
head  he  had  a  turban  of  linen,  called  a  mitre,  and 
on  the  front  of  it  was  a  band  of  gold  tied  with  a 
blue  ribbon,  and  bearing  the  words.  Holiness  to  the 
Lord, 

Now  they  were  ready  to  march  from  Mount 
Sinai  to  the  Promised  Land.  But  first  they  sent 
out  spies  to  see  what  kind  of  land  it  was,  and  what 
sort  of  people  lived  in  it  already.  So  the  spies 
went,  and  journeyed  up  and  down,  and  here  and 

76 


FROM  MOUNT  SINAI  TO  THE  JORDAN 

there,  keeping  their  eyes  open,  and  brought  back 
their  report.  And  the  report  was  that  the  land 
was  good  to  live  in;  they  showed  a  vast  bunch  of 
grapes  which  grew  there,  to  let  the  people  know 
how  fertile  was  the  soil.  But  they  said  also  that 
the  men  who  lived  there  were  big  and  strong,  like 
giants.  ^^We  were  like  grasshoppers,"  they  said, 
^'beside  them."  They  added  that  these  giants 
lived  in  great  walled  cities. 

Then  the  Israelites  set  up  a  great  cry  of  fear, 
and  refused  to  go  into  the  Promised  Land.  And 
even  Moses  could  not  pursuade  them.  Some,  in- 
deed, who  were  braver  than  the  others,  set  off  by 
themselves,  against  the  command  of  Moses,  and 
attacked  some  of  the  nearer  towns  of  the  Promised 
Land,  but  they  were  beaten  back  in  hopeless 
defeat.  Thus  matters  were  made  worse.  The 
people  had  been  slaves  so  long  that  they  were  in  no 
condition  to  go  to  war.  They  were  not  ready  for  it 
in  either  mind  or  body.  So  they  stayed  in  the 
wilderness.  Year  after  year,  they  wandered  about 
from  place  to  place.  They  gathered  flocks  and 
herds  and  drove  them  before  them.  They  lived 
an  out-door  life.  They  grew  every  year  more 
strong  and  more  brave.  They  learned  how  to  be 
hungry   and   thirsty   without   crying.     The   old 

77 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

people  grew  very  old  and  died,  and  the  young  men 
who  took  their  places  were  quite  different  from 
their  fathers  who  were  frightened  by  the  report  of 
the  spies.  At  last,  Moses  saw  that  the  time  had 
come  to  leave  the  wandering  life  of  the  wilderness 
and  try  again  to  win  the  Promised  Land. 

The  Promised  Land  is  bordered  on  the  north  by 
the  mountains  of  Lebanon,  on  the  west  by  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  on  the  south  by  the  wilderness 
and  on  the  east  by  the  river  Jordan,  which  flows 
between  the  Lake  of  Galilee  and  the  Dead  Sea. 
The  Israelites  did  not  try  again  to  enter  the  land 
from  the  south.  They  determined  to  invade  it 
from  the  east,  crossing  the  Jordan.  So  they 
marched  north.  But  there  were  two  nations  in 
their  way;  first,  Edom,  then  Moab. 

So  they  sent  messengers  to  the  king  of  Edom, 
asking  permission  to  go  through  his  land.  They 
promised  to  keep  to  the  highways,  not  to  pass 
through  field  or  vineyard,  nor  to  drink  any  water 
without  paying  for  it.  But  the  king  of  Edom 
would  not  give  permission,  and  the  Israelites 
did  not  quite  venture  to  make  their  way  by 
force,  so  they  went  around,  a  long  journey,  but 
a  safe  one. 

Thus  they  came  to  the  domains  of  Sihon,  king 

78 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

of  the  Amorites,  and  they  asked  of  him  as  they  had 
asked  of  Edom  consent  to  pass  peacefully  through 
his  country,  but  now  when  Sihon  refused,  they  at- 
tacked him  and  conquered  him.  Thus  they  found 
that  they  had  strength  and  courage,  and  they  went 
on  with  a  new  spirit. 

As  for  the  king  of  Moab,  whose  name  was 
Balak,  he  was  so  frightened  when  he  heard  what 
had  happened  to  King  Sihon,  that  he  sent  for  a 
mighty  magician,  named  Balaam,  to  curse  the 
army  of  Israel.  And  Balaam  came  and  built  altars 
on  the  peaks  of  mountains,  and  offered  sacrifices, 
and  listened  in  his  soul  for  the  word  of  God,  but  all 
the  word  was  blessing,  never  a  word  of  cursing. 
So  on  came  Israel,  and  drew  near  to  the  place 
where  they  were  to  cross  ^the  Jordan  into  the  Prom- 
ised Land. 

And  Moses  went  up  into  a  high  mountain 
called  Pisgah,  or  Nebo,  whence  he  could  look  out 
over  that  fair  land.  He  was  now  an  old  man,  worn 
with  years  and  with  labors,  and  his  work  was  done. 
He  had  redeemed  his  people  out  of  Egypt,  given 
them  laws  which  made  them  a  nation,  and  changed 
a  multitude  of  slaves  into  a  strong  army.  He  went 
up  and  looked  over  into  the  Promised  Land.  And 
he  never  came  down  again.    The  people  waited, 

79 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

but  he  did  not  come.  The  farewell,  and  the  song, 
and  the  blessing  of  Moses  are  in  Deuteronomy. 
He  had  given  his  last  counsels  and  said  his  last 
words.  He  was  seen  no  more.  And  Joshua  be- 
came commander  in  his  stead. 


80 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

Joshua 

1.  The  invasion.', 

1.  The  crossing  of  the  Jordan,  1-5. 

2.  The  siege  of  Jericho,  6. 

3.  The  siege  of  Ai,  7,  8. 

4.  The  league  with  Gibeon,  9. 

5.  The  battle  of  Beth-Horon,  10. 

6.  The  battle  of  Merom,  11. 

2.  The  settlement. 

1.  East  of  the  Jordan,  13. 

— the  altar  of  remembrance,  22. 

2.  West  of  the  Jordan  12,  14-20. 

— early  account,  Judges  1,  2. 
— the  lot  of  Levi,  21. 

3.  The  farewell  of  Joshua. 

TDETWEEN  the  Hebrews  and  the  Promised 
Land  was  the  river  Jordan.  The  water  was 
deep  and  swift,  and  there  were  no  bridges.  More- 
over, at  that  season  of  the  year,  the  river  was  un- 
commonly wide,  being  swollen  by  the  spring  rains 
and  over-flowing  all  its  banks.  The  first  business 
of  Joshua,  when  he  became  commander  after  the 
death  of  Moses,  was  to  find  a  ford.    He  looked  for 

81 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

a  shallow  place  where  the  people  might  safely 
wade  across. 

Suddenly,  while  he  was  looking  for  a  good 
wading-place,  the  river  ceased  to  run.  Miles  away 
in  the  north  it  was  dammed  up  so  that  it  stood,  as 
the  Bible  says,  ''in  a  heap.''  Then  the  command 
was  given  to  march.  The  men  who  carried  the 
ark  went  first  and  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  bed 
of  the  river  and  all  the  host  of  Israel  followed  them. 
Thus  they  crossed  the  Jordan  almost  as  wonder- 
fully as  their  fathers  had  crossed  the  Red  Sea.  At 
the  Red  Sea  the  Lord  had  caused  a  strong  east 
wind  to  blow  the  water  back.  What  means  He 
made  use  of  at  the  Jordan  we  are  not  told;  but 
one  time  an  army  of  Arabs  crossed  the  Jordan  on 
dry  land,  because  the  river  was  suddenly  dammed 
by  the  falling  of  banks  which  a  freshet  had  under- 
mined. 

There  they  stood,  then,  in  the  land  which  they 
meant  to  take  for  their  own  possession.  But  the 
country,  as  they  knew  very  well,  was  already  in- 
habited. They  could  not  take  it  without  fighting. 
So  they  proceeded  to  fight.  The  first  town  to 
which  they  came  was  Jericho.  Already,  they  had 
sent  spies  into  the  town,  and  the  spies  came  back, 
after  various  adventures,  and  made  their  report. 

82 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

*'The  city/'  they  said,  ^'has  walls  about  it,  thick 
and  high  and  made  of  stone;  and  every  night  when 
the  sun  sets,  they  lock  the  gates.  But  we  have 
made  friends  there,  especially  a  woman  named 
Rahab,  and  her  family.  They  are  on  our  side. 
And  the  people  are  greatly  afraid. '^ 

So  they  marched  against  the  place.  It  was  their 
first  battle  in  the  Promised  Land,  and  they  never 
forgot  it.  The  story  was  told  and  retold  by  sol- 
diers around  camp-fires,  and  by  fathers  and 
mothers  to  their  children,  long  before  it  was 
written  in  the  Bible:  how  they  marched  around 
the  city  seven  times  on  seven  days,  the  priests 
going  before  with  the  ark,  and  blowing  with  their 
ram's-horn  trumpets,  the  people  of  Jericho  looking 
on  in  amazement  from  the  top  of  the  wall;  how 
at  last  the  walls  fell  down,  and  in  they  went 
straight  before  them;  and  how  they  killed  every- 
body in  sight,  big  and  Uttle,  men  and  women,  old 
and  young. 

It  was  a  victory  so  wonderful  that  they  felt  that 
it  had  been  gained  for  them  by  the  hand  of  God. 
If  Rahab  helped,  by  opening  the  gates  at  night, 
they  made  no  mention  of  it.  Anyhow,  by  miracle 
or  by  stratagem,  they  took  the  town.  As  for  the 
killing  of  the  people,  which  seems  to  us  so  dread- 

83 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

ful,  and  is  no  longer  done  in  any  war,  that  was  the 
custom  of  the  time;  they  knew  no  better. 

The  land  of  Palestine,  into  which  the  Israelites 
had  now  entered,  was  a  little  country,  no  bigger 
than  New  Hampshire.  The  whole  middle  part  was 
a  long  range  of  low  and  broken  hills,  rising  in  the 
north  into  the  high  peaks  of  Lebanon,  and  falling 
in  the  south,  towards  Egypt,  into  a  rolling  wilder- 
ness. Many  of  the  hills  were  crowned  with  walled 
towns.  In  these  towns  lived  the  Canaanites. 
They  were  distant  cousins  of  the  Israelites,  having 
themselves  come  in  from  Arabia  many  years 
before.  They  were  more  civilized  than  the  Is- 
raelites. They  had  substantial  houses  and  good 
furniture,  and  books,  and  fine  clothes,  some  of 
which  they  had  imported  from  Babylon.  They 
had  cornfields  and  olive-yards  and  vineyards  j 
and  there  were  so  many  cows  and  bees  that  the 
hills  seemed  to  flow  with  milk  and  honey.  The 
people  worshipped  the  gods  of  the  sun  and  of  the 
rain,  of  the  corn  and  of  the  vine,  to  whom  they 
prayed  under  the  great  trees  and  on  the  heights  of 
the  hills,  asking  for  good  harvests. 

Between  the  mountains  and  the  sea  lay  a  wide 
coast,  fringed  with  sand  along  the  shore  but 
spreading  out  into  fertile  plains.     In  one  place, 

84 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

where  the  hills  came  out  to  meet  the  sea,  the 
coast  was  interrupted  by  Mount  Carmel.  The 
plain  to  the  north  of  Carmel  was  inhabited  by  the 
Phoenicians.  They  had  two  strong  cities,  Tyre 
and  Sidon.  They  were  the  race  who  sent  their 
colonists  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, 
and  founded  the  great  city  of  Carthage,  which  is 
described  in  the  Aeneid,  and  which  under  Han- 
nibal became  the  mighty  enemy  of  Rome.  The 
plain  to  the  south  of  Carmel  was  inhabited  by 
the  Philistines,  from  whom  the  whole  land  was 
called  Palestine.  They  had  five  strong  cities, 
Ekron  and  Ashdod,  Askelon  and  Gath  and  Gaza. 
They  soon  became  the  strongest  enemy  of  the 
Israelites. 

This  was  the  land,  long  and  narrow;  bounded 
on  the  east  by  the  river  Jordan,  which  ran  between 
two  lakes,  the  Sea  of  Galilee  and  the  Dead  Sea; 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  mountains  of  Leb- 
anon, and  on  the  south  by  the  wilderness  which 
reached  to  Egypt;  bounded  on  the  west  by  the 
Mediterranean;  a  land  whose  hills  and  valleys 
were  held  by  the  Canaanites,  divided  into  half-a- 
dozen  little  kingdoms,  and  whose  coast  plains  were 
held  by  the  Phoenicians  and  Philistines. 

A  road  ran  up  straight  west  from  Jericho  into 

85 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

the  heart  of  the  hills,  and  this  the  victorious  in- 
vaders took,  leaving  the  ruins  of  Jericho  behind 
them.     They   went   to    attack   the   Canaanites. 

The  town  of  Ai  they  captured  by  stratagem. 
One  company  of  soldiers  hid  behind  the  town; 
another  company  marched  up  the  hill  in  front,  and 
when  the  men  of  Ai  came  out  against  them,  they 
ran  away  and  the  men  of  Ai  chased  them.  Then 
rose  up  the  hidden  company  and  began  to  burn 
the  city.  Thus  the  men  of  Ai  were  between  two 
enemies:  the  Israelites  who  had  pretended  to  run 
away  in  fear  turned  back  and  the  Israelites  who 
had  lain  in  wait  ran  down. 

The  town  of  Gibeon  they  failed  to  capture,  by 
reason  of  another  stratagem.  Long  before  they 
came  in  sight  of  it  they  met  a  company  of  ragged 
men,  footsore  and  hungry,  who  said,  ^^We  have 
come  from  a  long  distance,  from  over  the  hills  and 
far  away;  make  now  an  agreement  with  us.'^ 
And  this  the  Israelites  did,  believing  what  they 
said.  For  the  men  showed  their  shoes,  worn  with 
their  long  journey;  and  their  bread,  stale  and 
mouldy,  so  long  ago  had  it  been  baked.  But  the 
next  day,  on  a  neighboring  hill,  appeared  the  walls 
of  a  town,  and  the  men  of  Gibeon  said,  ''That  is 
where  we  live.''  Nevertheless,  the  Israelites  kept 

86 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

the  promise  of  peace  which  they  had  made.  They 
compelled  the  Gibeonites  to  cut  wood  and  draw 
water  for  them,  but  they  did  not  put  them  to 
death. 

The  most  important  city  in  that  part  of  the 
country  was  Jerusalem,  and  the  most  famous 
battle  which  Joshua  fought  was  against  five  kings, 
of  whom  the  king  of  Jerusalem  was  chief.  These 
kings  had  joined  their  forces  to  meet  the  invaders 
and  drive  them  out  of  the  land.  The  battle  was 
fought  at  the  Pass  of  Beth-Horon.  The  Israelites 
were  assisted  by  a  tremendous  hail  storm,  which 
beat  in  the  faces  of  the  enemy.  The  five  kings 
turned  and  fled,  and  Joshua  and  his  men  pursued 
them  through  the  pass.  An  old  war-song,  pre- 
served in  a  collection  of  ballads  called  the  Book  of 
Jasher,  says  that  Joshua  made  the  sun  and  moon 
stand  still  that  he  might  have  light  enough  to  see 
the  fleeing  Canaanites.  ''Sun,''  he  cried,  ''stand 
thou  still  upon  Gibeon,  and  thou  Moon  in  the 
valley  of  Ajalon.''  Thus  a  poet  described  the 
greatness  of  their  triumph:  they  did  so  much 
that  day  that  it  seemed  like  two  days,  the  sun  and 
moon  seemed  to  wait  for  them  to  complete  their 
victory. 

In  spite  of  this  successful  battle,  the  Israelites 

87 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

did  not  take  Jerusalem.  It  remained  in  possession 
of  the  Canaanites  till  the  time  of  David.  Thus 
they  settled  down  in  a  land  which  was  conquered 
only  in  part.  Some  cities  they  captured,  others 
they  were  not  able  to  capture.  In  some  places 
they  put  the  Canaanites  to  death  or  drove  them 
out;  in  others,  they  became  their  neighbors,  and 
learned  their  ways,  both  good  and  evil.  Joshua 
divided  Palestine  among  the  Israelites,  as  William 
divided  England  among  the  Normans.  But  each 
tribe  fought  for  its  own  section  of  country.  The 
tribe  of  Dan,  for  example,  found  an  undefended 
town  in  a  fertile  district  by  the  sources  of  the 
Jordan  and  took  it  for  their  own.  The  tribes  of 
Reuben  and  Gad  and  half  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh 
settled  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan.  In  the  south  of 
Palestine,  the  tribe  of  Judah  was  most  successful; 
in  the  north,  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  one  of  the  sons 
of  Joseph. 


s$ 


THE  DEFENCE  OF  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

Judges,  Ruth. 

1.  Introduction. 

The  long  struggle,  Judges  1,  2. 

2.  The  champions  of  Israel. 

(1)  Othniel  against  the  Mesopotamians  3 :1-11, 

(2)  Ehud  against  the  Moabites,  3:12-31. 

(3)  Deborah  and  Barak  against  the  Canaan- 

ites. 

a.  The  story  in  prose,  4. 
h.  The  story  in  poetry,  5. 
(d)  Gideon  against  the  Midianites. 

a.  The  valor  of  Gideon,  6-8. 

b.  The  violence  of  Abimelech,  9. 

(5)  Jephthah  against  the  Ammonites,  10-12. 

(6)  Samson  against  the  Philistines. 

a.  The  lion  and  the  bees,  14. 

b.  The  foxes  and  the  fire,  15. 

c.  The  false  Delilah,  16. 

3.  Appendix. 

(1)  The  migration  of  Dan,  17,  18. 

(2)  The  war  against  Benjamin,  19-21. 

4.  The  story  of  Ruth,  Ruth  1-4. 

"DETWEEN  the  capture  of  Jericho  by  Joshua,  at 

the  beginning  of  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  and 

the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  David,  whereby  the 

conquest  was  completed,  was  a  space  of  a  hundred 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

and  fifty  years.  During  this  time  the  people  were 
settling  the  land,  as  well  as  they  could,  and  de- 
fending themselves  against  their  enemies. 

The  chief  of  these  enemies  were,  first  the  Ca- 
naanites;  then,  from  the  east,  beyond  the  Jordan, 
the  Midianites  and  the  Ammonites;  then  finally, 
from  the  west,  beside  the  Mediterranean,  the 
Philistines. 

In  spite  of  the  victories  of  Joshua,  the  Ca- 
naanites  got  the  better  of  the  men  of  Israel.  Es- 
pecially in  the  northern  part  of  the  country  they 
were  so  strong  that  the  Israelites  did  not  dare  to 
show  themselves  along  the  public  roads.  The 
Canaanites  had  nine  hundred  chariots  of  iron; 
the  Israelites  had  neither  shield  nor  spear.  The 
conquest  of  the  Promised  Land  seemed  to  have 
failed,  and  the  people  seemed  likely  to  become 
slaves  to  the  Canaanites  as  they  had  been  slaves 
to  the  Egyptians.  Then  arose  a  wise  woman 
named  Deborah,  full  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  she 
called  a  brave  man  named  Barak,  and  the  two 
sent  messages  to  the  oppressed  tribes,  calling  for 
men  to  fight. 

Now,  in  the  midst  of  the  land  was  a  great  plain. 

It  began  at  Mount  Carmel,  where  the  hills  touched 

the  sea;  and  extended  across  the  country  to  the 

90 


THE  DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

Jordan.  It  was  a  wide  and  level  place,  and 
through  it  flowed  the  river  Kishon.  In  the  plain, 
on  the  west,  stood  the  ancient  fortress  of  Megiddo; 
there  the  Canaanites  met,  under  Sisera  their 
general,  to  punish  the  revolt  of  the  Israelites.  By 
the  plain,  on  the  east,  was  Mount  Tabor,  where 
Barak  gathered  his  ill-armed  followers.  Out 
marched  Sisera  from  Megiddo,  with  his  nine  hun- 
dred chariots  of  iron;  down  rushed  Barak  along 
the  slopes  of  Tabor.  And  again,  as  at  the  battle 
of  Beth-Horon,  there  was  a  mighty  storm.  The 
rain  fell  in  torrents.  The  plain  became  a  marsh, 
the  river  suddenly  arose,  and  overflowed  its 
banks.  The  Canaanites  fled  in  dismay,  and  the 
Israelites  pursued  them.  Sisera  took  refuge  in 
the  tent  of  a  woman  named  Jael,  and  while  he 
slept  for  weariness  she  drove  a  nail  of  the  tent  into 
his  head  and  killed  him. 

This  decisive  victory  made  the  men  of  Israel 
masters  of  the  men  of  Canaan.  But  there  were 
enemies  across  the  Jordan. 

First  came  the  Midianites,  out  of  the  desert. 
Year  after  year,  when  the  corn  and  the  grapes  were 
growing  in  the  fields  which  the  Israelites  had 
planted,  these  wild  people  came  riding  in  over  the 
shallow  river  and  carried  away  the  harvest.    Some 

91 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

of  the  men  of  Israel  they  killed,  and  the  others 
they  left  without  either  food  or  cattle.  Back  they 
went  into  the  wilderness,  driving  the  oxen  and 
the  sheep  before  them. 

Against,  these  robbers,  the  Lord  raised  up 
Gideon,  whose  brothers  they  had  killed.  Gideon 
called  the  men  of  Israel  to  battle,  and  a  great  com- 
pany came,  mostly  farmers  from  the  fields.  Out 
of  these  he  chose  three  hundred.  To  each  man 
he  gave  a  torch  and  a  pitcher  and  a  trumpet.  So 
they  came  upon  the  Midianites  in  the  dark,  when 
they  were  all  asleep.  And  when  Gideon  gave 
the  signal,  they  broke  their  pitchers,  waved 
their  flaming  torches  in  the  air,  and  blew  upon 
their  trumpets.  And  they  shouted,  ''The  sword 
of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon."  Then  the  Midian- 
ites were  so  frightened  that  they  ran  away. 
Down  they  fled  on  their  camels  along  the  valley 
and  over  the  Jordan,  and  they  never  came  baek 
again. 

The  people  were  so  grateful  to  Gideon  that  they 
made  him  their  king,  and  they  agreed  that  his  son 
should  be  king  after  him.  But  they  who  made 
this  agreement  were  not  many.  The  land  was  so 
full  of  hills  and  valleys  that  the  Israelites  were 
divided,  like  the  Canaanites  before  them.    Each 

92 


THE  DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

tribe  made  its  own  laws,  and  fought  its  own 
battles,  and  had  httle  to  do  with  its  neighbors. 
The  whole  kingdom  of  Gideon  was  only  about 
twenty-five  miles  from  north  to  south,  and  the 
same  distance  from  east  to  west.  Moreover,  the 
son  of  Gideon,  Abimelech,  was  so  bad  a  king  that 
the  people  were  sorry  that  they  had  made  him 
ruler  over  them.  He  began  his  reign  by  kiUing 
his  seventy  brothers;  the  town  of  Shechem  re- 
belled against  him;  finally,  beside  the  wall  of 
Thebez,  a  town  which  he  was  attacking,  a  woman 
threw  down  a  mill-stone  upon  him  from  the 
tower,  and  killed  him. 

Then  came  the  Ammonites.  They  attacked 
the  tribes  of  Israel  who  had  settled  east  of  the 
Jordan.  Now  there  was  a  famous  outlaw  in  that 
part  of  the  country,  named  Jephthah,  who  had 
with  him  a  band  of  stout  men,  and  as  the  peril 
from  the  Ammonites  increased  the  people  offered 
to  make  Jephthah  their  king  if  he  would  rid  them 
of  their  enemies.  This  Jephthah  did,  fighting  a 
great  battle  with  the  Ammonites  and  defeating 
them.  But,  on  the  eve  of  the  battle,  Jephthah 
made  a  vow  that  if  he  were  successful  in  the  con- 
test he  would  offer  as  a  sacrifice  to  God  the  first 
living  creature  that  should  meet  him  on  his  vic- 

93 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

torious  return.  And  the  first  living  creature  to 
meet  him  was  his  own  daughter! 

After  that,  the  Israehtes  fell  to  fighting  among 
themselves.  The  Ephraimites, — the  men  west 
of  the  Jordan, — said  to  the  Gileadites, — ^the  men 
east  of  the  Jordan, — "Why  did  you  not  take  us 
with  you  in  the  war  against  the  Ammonites?^' 
Thus  they  began  to  quarrel.  The  Gileadites  took 
every  Ephraimite  whom  they  could  catch  on  their 
side  of  the  Jordan,  and  put  him  to  death.  And 
when  they  were  in  doubt  whether  the  man  be- 
longed to  Ephraim  or  not,  they  said,  "Say  Shib- 
boleth"; and  if  the  man  said  "iSifeboleth,''  they 
killed  him. 

All  these  divisions  made  the  Israelites  weak  in 
the  presence  of  their  enemies,  and  especially  in  the 
presence  of  their  strongest  enemies,  the  Philistines. 
The  Midianites  had  attacked  the  northern  tribes; 
the  Ammonites  had  attacked  the  eastern  tribes; 
the  Phihstines  attacked  the  southern  tribes.  They 
came  up  from  their  wide  fields  and  strong  cities 
by  the  sea,  and  the  Israelites  were  afraid  of  them. 
There  was  one  strong  man,  however,  who  was  not 
afraid  of  the  Philistines.  His  name  was  Samson. 
Samson  was  not  the  leader  of  an  army,  like  Barak 
and  Gideon  and  Jephthah.   He  was  an  adventurer, 

94 


THE  DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

who  fought  not  to  deUver  his  people  but  because 
he  loved  to  fight. 

One  time,  when  he  married  a  Philistine  woman, 
he  told  a  riddle  at  the  wedding.  If  the  thirty- 
young  men  who  came  to  the  wedding  could  guess 
the  riddle,  Samson  was  to  give  them  thirty  shirts 
and  thirty  coats.  They  did  guess  it,  having 
learned  the  answer  from  the  bride,  and  Samson 
went  off  and  killed  thirty  Philistines,  and  took 
their  shirts  and  coats  to  pay  his  forfeit. 

Another  time,  when  he  was  angry  with  the 
Philistines,  he  caught  three  hundred  foxes  and 
tied  their  tails  together,  two  by  two,  and  fastened 
flaming  torches  to  the  tails,  and  sent  them  into 
the  Philistines'  wheat  and  burned  it  down. 

Another  story  was  that  he  went  into  a  walled 
town,  and  when  the  gates  were  locked,  the  Phil- 
istines said,  '^Now  we  have  him  fast;  we  will  kill 
him  in  the  morning. ''  But  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  Samson  rose  up  and  carried  off  the  gates  on 
his  back. 

Finally,  however,  a  woman  named  Delilah  be- 
trayed him  to  the  Phihstines.  She  begged  him  to 
tell  her  the  secret  of  his  great  strength;  and  he 
told  her  that  if  his  hair  were  cut  he  would  be  like 
any  other  man.    So  when  he  was  asleep,  she  cut 

95 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

his  long  hair,  and  the  Philistines  rushed  in  and 
bound  him,  and  put  out  his  eyes. 

But  one  day,  when  his  hair  had  grown  again, 
he  was  brought  into  a  Phihstine  temple  which  was 
filled  with  the  leaders  and  soldiers  of  his  enemies; 
and  suddenly  he  put  forth  his  hand  and  broke  the 
pillars  which  held  up  the  roof.  Down  fell  the 
building,  and  Samson  and  the  Philistines  died  to- 
gether. 

The  victories  of  Barak  over  the  Canaanites,  of 
Gideon  over  the  Midianites,  of  Jephthah  over  the 
Ammonites,  and  of  Samson  over  the  Philistines, 
are  recorded  in  the  book  of  Judges.  The  story  of 
Ruth  shows  that  the  days  were  not  entirely  filled 
with  fighting.  There  had  been  trouble  between 
the  Israelites  in  the  south  and  their  neighbors 
across  the  Jordan,  the  Moabites.  And  Ehud,  a 
left-handed  man  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  had  gone 
over  and  killed  Eglon,  the  king  of  Moab.  But 
peace  followed,  and  there  was  friendship,  and  even 
marriage,  between  the  two  peoples. 

Ruth,  a  young  woman  of  Moab,  had  been  mar- 
ried to  a  son  of  Naomi  who  came  from  Bethlehem. 
The  young  man  died,  and  when  Naomi  returned 
to  Bethlehem,  Ruth  came  with  her.  There  she 
lived  with  her  mother-in-law,  and  helped  in  the 


THE  DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

work  of  the  household,  going  out  into  the  fields  and 
gathering  the  wheat  which  the  gleaners  dropped 
from  their  sheaves.  And  Boaz,  the  owner  of  the 
field,  saw  her,  and  told  his  men  to  be  good  to  her 
and  drop  some  handfuls  for  her  to  gather  up.  And 
at  last,  he  married  her.  And  the  son  of  Ruth  and 
Boaz  was  named  Obed,  and  Obed's  son  was  Jesse, 
and  one  of  Jesse's  sons  was  David. 


07 


THE  SELECTION  OF  SAUL  \ 

I  Samuel  1-15,  28-31.  i 

1.  The  judgeship  of  Eli.  \ 

1.  Eli  and  Hannah,  1.  ; 

2.  Eli  and  his  sons,  2.  j 

3.  Eli  and  the  word  of  God,  3.  ] 

4.  The  capture  of  the  ark,  4-7.  j 

2.  The  judgeship  of  Samuel.  ■ 

1.  Samuel  as  leader,  8,  12.  ; 

2.  Samuel  as  seer,  9,  10:1-17.  3 

3.  The  appointment  of  Saul  9:18-27. 

3.  The  reign  of  Saul.  ] 

1.  The  war  with  the  Ammonites. 

The  relief  of  Jabesh,  11. 

2.  The  war  with  the  Philistines.  ; 

The  battle  of  Michmash,  13,  14.  ; 

3.  The  war  with  the  Amalekites.  1 

Obedience  and  sacrifice,  15.  i 


4.  The  PhiHstine  victory  at  Mt.  Gilboa,  28-31, 


VE AR  by  year,  the  Philistines  grew  stronger  than  j 

the  Israelites;  because  the  Philistines  were  a  \ 

united  people,  living  on  the  sea-coast  plain,  while  ; 
the  Israelites,  separated  by  their  hills  and  valleys, 

were  divided.     At  last,  in  the  days  of  Eh,  the  1 

Israelites  were  in  such  a  desperate  condition  that  \ 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

they  tried  to  gain  a  victory  by  bringing  into  the 
battle  the  ark  of  God.  This  ancient  chest,  con- 
taining the  slabs  of  stone  on  which  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments were  engraved,  had  been  carried 
around  Jericho,  they  said,  till  the  walls  fell  down. 
Perhaps,  if  it  were  taken  into  the  camp,  the  Phil- 
istines might  run  away.  But  unfortunately,  the 
PhiHstines  fought  harder  than  ever,  and  not  only 
defeated  the  Israelties  but  captured  the  ark. 

When  the  news  came  to  Eli,  he  fell  back  off  the 
bench  on  which  he  sat,  and  the  shock  and  the  fall 
killed  him,  being  an  old  man.  And  the  ark  was 
carried  off  to  the  Philistines^  country  and  put  in 
the  temple  of  their  god,  Dagon.  The  next  morn- 
ing the  statue  of  the  god  was  found  upon  the  floor 
beside  the  ark,  and  a  plague  broke  out  in  the  city. 
The  ark  was  carried  to  another  city,  and  the  plague 
followed  it.  At  last,  the  Philistines  put  the  ark  on 
a  cart  and  harnessed  two  cows  to  draw  it,  and  they 
carried  it  back  to  the  land  of  Israel.  But  the 
troubles  of  the  Israelites  continued,  till  it  became 
plain  to  all  wise  men  that  it  was  necessary  to  get 
the  tribes  together.  They  must  be  united  in  order 
to  defend  themselves  against  the  united  Phil- 
istines. 

The  wisest  man  in  the  country  was  named 

99 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

Samuel.  He  had  been  brought  up  by  Eli,  in  the 
temple  from  which  the  ark  had  been  taken  into 
the  battle.  He  was  now  an  old  man,  having  been 
for  many  years  a  leader  and  adviser  of  the  people. 
One  day  there  came  to  see  him  a  youth  named 
Saul.  The  asses  on  SauFs  father^s  farm  had  run 
away,  and  Saul  was  looking  for  them.  He  went 
to  ask  Samuel  where  to  find  them.  Then  Samuel 
said,  ''Saul,  you  are  the  man  for  whom  I  have 
been  waiting.  The  Lord  has  spoken  in  my  soul 
and  told  me  that  you  shall  be  the  King  of  Israel." 
And  he  anointed  him  with  oil.  Thus  Saul  was 
chosen  to  be  king,  and  to  unite  the  forces  of  divided 
Israel. 

Then  one  day,  when  Saul  came  in  from  his 
plowing,  he  found  a  great  excitement  among  the 
people.  News  had  come  that  the  Ammonites  had 
laid  seige  to  the  town  of  Jabesh,  across  the  Jordan, 
and  had  sworn  either  to  kill  all  of  the  inhabitants 
or  to  put  out  all  of  their  right  eyes.  Immediately 
Saul  summoned  the  soldiers  of  Israel,  and  over 
they  went,  and  drove  away  the  Ammonites  and 
saved  the  town.  Thus  the  Israelites  knew  that 
the  Lord  had  sent  them  a  leader,  and  they  made 
Saul  their  king,  as  Samuel  advised  them. 

When  the  Philistines  heard  that  the  Israelites 

100 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HEB.R^^W  .KUSTGDOJ^  . 

had  chosen  a  king,  they  came  up  against  them. 
But  the  Isrealites  would  not  fight.  They  ran 
away  and  hid  themselves,  as  they  had  done  be- 
fore. Only  a  few  hundred  men  remained  with 
Saul.  So  the  Philistines  scattered  their  soldiers 
about  the  land  and  began  to  plunder  the  peo- 
ple. But  at  Michmash,  they  had  a  fortress  and  a 
garrison. 

One  day  SauFs  son,  Jonathan,  determined  to 
attack  the  Philistine  garrison  alone.  He  climbed 
up  the  steep  cliff,  with  only  his  armor-bearer  with 
him,  and  appeared  suddenly  in  the  Philistine  camp 
and  rushed  upon  the  Philistines  with  his  sword, 
and  they  were  thrown  into  a  panic.  One  ran  upon 
another.  At  last  they  all  began  to  run,  and  Saul 
and  his  soldiers  came  across  the  ravine  and 
chased  them,  and  they  pursued  them  in  a  great 
rout  down  the  Pass  of  Beth-horon,  where  Joshua 
had  chased  the  Canaanites. 

Now  Saul,  like  Jephthah,  had  made  a  vow.  He 
had  resolved  to  sacrifice  to  God  whomsoever 
should  taste  food  that  day  until  the  sun  went 
down.  And  Jonathan,  who  knew  nothing  of  his 
father's  vow,  had  tasted  some  honey.  Saul  was 
ready  to  sacrifice  his  son  as  Jephthah  had  sacri- 
ficed his  daughter.    But  the  people  would  not  let 

101 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

him.  They  began  to  see  that  such  an  act  could 
not  be  according  to  the  will  of  God. 

By  the  victory  at  Michmash,  the  people  of 
Israel  were  delivered  from  the  power  of  the  Phil- 
istines for  several  years.  Saul  had  time  to  take 
an  army  down  into  the  southern  wilderness  and 
fight  the  Amalekites,  wild  people  who  kept  at- 
tacking the  settlers  of  Canaan  as  the  Indians  kept 
attacking  the  settlers  of  Virginia  and  Massachu- 
setts. He  defeated  the  Amalekites,  and  captured 
their  king,  Agag;  but  he  lost  the  friendship  of 
Samuel.  For  Samuel  told  Saul  that  the  Lord 
desired  him  to  spare  neither  man  nor  beast  among 
the  Amalekites;  and  Saul  disobeyed,  sparing 
sheep  for  a  great  sacrifice,  and  Agag  to  grace  his 
triumph.  Samuel  reproved  Saul,  saying  that  the 
Lord  cares  more  for  obedience  than  for  sacrifice. 

Then  the  Philistines  gathered  another  army. 
They  marshalled  their  soldiers  in  the  great  plain 
where  Sisera  had  gathered  his  forces  against  Barak. 
Saul  and  his  soldiers  were  on  Mount  Gilboa. 
Samuel  was  now  dead,  and  Saul  had  no  one  to 
advise  him.  All  his  warriors  were  afraid.  In  his 
despair,  Saul  went  to  a  witch  at  Endor,  and  asked 
her  to  call  up  Samuel  from  the  dead  to  speak  with 
him,  but  he  got  no  satisfaction.     So  the  battle 

102 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

came,  and  the  men  of  Israel  fled  away.  And  Saul 
and  Jonathan,  who  stood  their  ground,  were  killed. 
Thus  the  Philistines  were  masters  again  over  the 
land,  and  the  king  was  dead. 

The  Philistines  stripped  off  the  armor  of  Saul 
and  put  it  in  one  of  their  temples.  His  body  they 
fastened  to  the  wall  of  the  city  of  Beth-Shan. 
But  when  the  men  of  Jabesh  heard  of  it,  they 
arose  and  went  all  night,  and  took  SauFs  body 
from  the  wall,  and  carried  it  back  to  their  own 
town  and  buried  it.  Thus  they  showed  their 
gratitude  to  him  who  saved  their  lives  and  their 
right  eyes. 


103 


THE  EXPLOITS  OF  DAVID 

I  Samuel  16-27,  II  Samuel 

1.  David  in  the  court  of  Saul. 

(1)  As  minstrel,  I  Samuel,  16. 

(2)  As  champion,  17. 

(3)  Jonathan's  friendship,  SauFs  jealousy, 

18-20. 

2.  David  as  outlaw. 

(1)  The  adventure  of  the  sheepmaster,  25. 

(2)  The  adventure  of  the  king's  spear,  26. 

3.  David  as  king  (1000  B.  C.) 

(1)  Successes. 

a.  The  defeat  of  the  house  of  Saul,  II 

Samuel  1-4,  9. 
6.  The  establishment  of  the  house   of 

David. 

(a)  The  taking  of  Jerusalem,  5 :1-1 1 . 

(b)  The   defeat  of  the  Philistines, 

5:17-25. 

(c)  The  bringing-up  of  the  ark,  6. 

(d)  The  war  with  the  Ammonites, 

10. 

(2)  Failures 

a.  The  sin  of  Bathsheba,  11,  12. 

h.  The  conspiracy   of  Absolom,   14-19. 

c.  The  revolt  of  Sheba,  20. 

d.  The  famine  of  the  Gibeonites,  21 :1-14. 

e.  The  famine  of  the  census,  24. 

104 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

TIT'HEN  Saul  and  Jonathan  fell  down  slain  on 
Mount  Gilboa,  the  sorrow  of  the  people 
was  expressed  in  a  hymn  of  lamentation  which 
was  written  and  sung  by  David.  Nobody  knew 
better  how  to  make  poetry  in  praise  of  soldiers;  for 
David  was  both  a  soldier  and  a  poet. 

There  are  two  accounts  of  the  first  appearance 
of  David  at  the  court  of  Saul.  One  describes  him 
as  a  youth  who  knew  how  to  play  upon  the  harp. 
The  other  describes  him  as  a  youth  whose  arm  was 
strong,  and  his  courage  high,  to  fight. 

King  Saul  had  a  disease  of  the  mind.  When- 
ever it  came  upon  him,  he  would  be  like  a  crazy 
man.  Sometimes  he  would  be  silent,  saying  not 
a  word,  and  looking  very  sad.  Sometimes  he 
would  be  angry,  catching  up  his  spear  and  throw- 
ing it  at  anybody  who  might  be  in  the  way.  The 
only  medicine  which  did  him  any  good  was  music. 
When  they  heard,  then,  that  Jesse^s  son  David 
was  a  good  player  on  the  harp  they  sent  for  him, 
and  he  played  to  the  king. 

One  time,  in  the  war  which  was  always  going  on 
with  the  Philistines,  the  two  armies  were  set  in 
array,  and  out  of  the  Phihstine  army  came  a  giant 
named  Goliath,  who  dared  the  Israelites  to  come 
out  and  fight  with  him.    But  they  were  all  afraid. 

105 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

Then  came  David  on  an  errand  into  the  camp,  and 
when  he  saw  the  giant  he  got  SauFs  permission  to 
go  out  to  meet  him.  And  as  he  went,  he  picked  up 
some  smooth  stones,  and  when  he  came  near, 
before  the  giant  could  use  his  sword,  he  hit  him 
with  a  stone,  throwing  it  with  a  sling.  And  that 
was  the  end  of  the  giant,  for  the  stone  struck  him 
in  the  forehead. 

The  victory  over  the  giant  made  David  a  hero 
among  the  people.  Whenever  they  saw  him,  they 
shouted.  And  the  king  honored  him,  and  he 
married  the  king's  daughter,  the  princess  Michal. 
But  SauFs  disease  grew  worse,  and  he  became 
jealous  of  David,  and  hated  him.  Once  he  even 
sent  men  to  kill  David,  and  David  had  to  climb 
down  out  of  a  window,  and  barely  escaped  with 
his  life. 

So  David  became  an  outlaw,  like  Robin  Hood. 
In  the  cave  of  AduUam  he  gathered  a  band  of  men 
together,  and  they  fought  with  the  Amalekites 
and  other  enemies.  These  wild  people  used  to 
ride  in  on  camels,  like  the  Midianites,  and  drive 
away  the  farmers'  cattle.  David  protected  the 
farmers,  and  they  paid  him  for  his  services.  Thus 
he  earned   his  living.     Saul  still   pursued   him. 

One  time  when  Saul  and  his  men  were  in  the 

106 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

valley,  and  David  and  his  men  were  hidden  in  the 
hills,  David  went  over  by  night  into  SauFs  camp, 
and  came  to  where  Saul  slept,  and  took  away  his 
spear.  Then  he  called  to  the  king  from  the  side 
of  the  hill,  and  when  the  king  found  that  David 
had  spared  his  life,  he  was  sorry  for  all  his  hatred 
against  him.  But  that  was  only  for  the  moment; 
he  pursued  him  still,  till  David  sought  refuge 
among  the  Philistines.  There  he  was  when  the 
Philistines  killed  Saul  at  Mount  Gilboa.  David 
tried  to  get  into  the  battle,  hoping  to  throw  the 
army  of  the  Phihstines  into  confusion,  and  save 
Saul;  but  the  Phihstines  kept  him  away.  On  the 
day  of  the  great  battle,  he  was  fighting  the  Ama- 
lekites. 

The  first  king  of  Israel  was  dead:  who  should 
be  the  second?  Jonathan,  SauFs  son,  had  fallen 
beside  his  father,  and  two  of  his  brothers  with  him. 
There  remained  a  fourth  son,  called  Ish-bosheth. 
But  the  men  of  Judah  wished  to  have  David  for 
their  king.  So  there  was  a  war  for  the  crown. 
Ish-bosheth  had  Abner  for  his  general;  David  had 
Joab. 

The  armies  met  by  the  pool  of  Gibeon.  At  first 
they  tried  to  decide  the  battle  by  sending  out 
twelve  men  on  each  side  to  fight;    but  all  the 

107 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

twenty-four  champions  were  killed,  not  one  re- 
mained. So  the  battle  was  joined,  and  the  army 
of  Ish-bosheth  was  defeated.  Presently,  Abner 
and  Ish-bosheth  quarrelled,  and  Abner  deserted 
to  the  side  of  David.  Then  Joab  by  treachery 
killed  him.  Shortly  after,  Ish-bosheth  was  mur- 
dered in  his  bed  by  two  of  his  officers,  and  thus  the 
cause  of  the  house  of  Saul  was  lost.  David  became 
king. 

By  three  notable  acts  David  strengthened  his 
throne:  he  delivered  the  people  from  the  Philis- 
tines, he  captured  Jerusalem  and  made  it  his 
capital  city,  and  into  Jerusalem  he  brought  the 
ark  of  God. 

The  Philistines,  who  had  killed  the  first  king  of 
Israel  on  Mount  Gilboa,  immediately  gathered 
their  soldiers  when  they  heard  that  there  was  a 
new  king  in  his  place.  But  David's  adventures  as 
an  outlaw  had  taught  him  many  things  about  the 
art  of  war,  and  the  men  who  had  been  his  com- 
panions were  brave  men.  One  of  them  had  a  duel 
with  an  Egyptian  giant,  and  pulled  the  giant's 
spear  out  of  his  hand  and  ran  him  through  with 
it;  also  he  fought  a  lion  in  a  pit  on  a  snowy  day. 
Three  others,  hearing  David  wish  for  a  drink  of 
water  from  the  well  by  the  gate  of  Bethlehem,  made 

108 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

their  way  through  the  army  of  the  Philistines  and 
brought  it  to  him.  Such  as  these  were  his  captains. 
So  when  the  Philistines  came  up  against  David  to 
fight  the  battle  of  the  valley  of  Rephaim,  the 
charge  of  the  army  of  Israel  was  like  the  breaking 
of  a  dam  across  a  strong  river;  they  carried  every- 
thing before  them.  Thus  at  last  the  land  had  rest 
from  the  Philistines. 

In  spite  of  all  the  wars,  the  city  of  Jerusalem, 
which  was  even  then  an  ancient  and  famous 
fortress,  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  men  of 
Canaan,  the  Jebusites.  It  stood  so  securely  on 
a  steep  hill  that  the  Jebusites  boasted  that  even 
the  lame  and  blind  among  them  could  hold  it 
against  any  enemy.  But  David^s  men  climbed 
up  along  the  water  course,  and  took  the  place  by 
surprise,  and  smote  the  blind  and  the  lame  and 
captured  it.  The  city  stood  between  the  northern 
and  the  southern  tribes,  as  Washington  stands 
between  the  northern  and  the  southern  states. 
David  built  his  palace  in  Jerusalem.  At  last,  after 
their  long  wandering  and  fighting,  each  tribe 
making  it  own  way  and  living  its  own  life,  the 
Israelites  had  a  strong  central  city. 

David  made  Jerusalem  the  centre  not  only  of 
national  law  but  of  national  religion.    He  sent  for 

109 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

the  ark,  which  was  still  where  the  Philistines  cows 
had  left  it  after  the  plague  in  the  Philistine  cities. 
There  was  a  great  procession  of  priests  and  soldiers, 
with  much  shouting  and  blare  of  trumpets,  and 
offering  of  sacrifices;  and  at  last  the  ark,  still 
safely  holding  the  ten  commandments,  was  set 
down,  after  its  long  wandering,  beside  the  palace 
of  the  king,  on  the  Jerusalem  hill. 

A  grievous  famine  which  afflicted  the  people 
was  explained  by  the  Gibeonites  as  a  punishment 
of  God  because  Saul  had  broken  the  ancient 
promise  made  by  Joshua;  for  Saul  had  attacked 
the  Gibeonites  and  tried  to  destroy  them.  So 
David  seized  two  sons  of  Saul  and  five  grandsons 
and  hanged  them,  all  the  seven  together,  and  for- 
bade anybody  to  take  them  down.  Thus  he 
thought  to  please  God  and  stop  the  famine,  for 
David  like  the  wisest  of  his  people,  was  still 
ignorant  in  many  ways  concerning  God,  and  con- 
cerning the  world  in  which  we  live.  But  Rizpah, 
the  mother  of  SauFs  sons,  stood  night  and  day 
beside  their  bodies,  keeping  birds  and  beasts  away, 
till  the  king  took  them  down  and  buried  them. 

David  was  now  strong  enough  not  only  to  defend 
the  people  against  the  Philistines,  their  old  enemies 
in  the  west,  but  to  go  to  war  with  their  old  enemies 

110 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

in  the  east.    Of  these,  the  most  troublesome  were 

the  Ammonites,  who  had  recovered  from  their 

defeat  at  the  hands  of  Jephthah  and  of  Saul.    At 

first,  David  sent  messengers  of  friendship,  but  the 

Ammonites  derided  them,  shaving  their  beards  in 

half  and  cutting  off  their  long  robes,  so  that  they 

were  ashamed  to  be  seen.    Then  the  Ammonites 

called  the  Arameans  to  help  them  against  the  army 

which  David  sent,  under  Joab  and  Abishai,  to 

punish  them.    Joab  attacked  the  Ammonites  and 

put  them  to  flight,  and  Abishai  did  the  same  to  the 

Arameans.      Finally,    David    came  himself  and 

destroyed  the  capital  city  of  the  Ammonites,  and 

brought  away  their  king's  crown,  heavy  with  gold 

and  having  a  precious  jewel  in  it*  this  he  put  on 

his  own  head. 

It  was  during  this  war  that  David  committed 

a  great  crime.     He  saw  in  Jerusalem  a  woman 

named  Bathsheba,  who  pleased  him  greatly;   but 

she  had  a  husband  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  king's 

army.    And  David  told  Joab  to  put  Bathsheba's 

husband  in  the  front  rank  of  the  battle.    There  he 

was  killed  by  the  Ammonites  and  David  took 

Bathsheba  for  his  wife.    There  was  a  brave  prophet 

named  Nathan  who  rebuked  the  king.     He  told 

him  plainly  that  he  had  broken  two  of  the  great 

111 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

laws  of  God:  he  had  committed  adultery  and 
murder.  Nathan  made  David  see  the  dreadfulness 
of  his  sin,  and  he  was  very  sorry.  The  happiness 
of  his  splendid  life  was  gone. 

For  two  of  David^s  sons  quarreled,  and  one  of 
them  killed  the  other.  And  presently  Absolom, 
the  son  who  killed  his  brother,  conspired  against 
his  father.  Absolom  probably  knew  that  David 
intended  to  make  Bathsheba's  son,  Solomon,  king 
in  his  place,  and  he  tried  to  become  king  himself. 
He  gathered  men  together  and  marched  with  so 
strong  a  force  against  Jerusalem  that  David  fled 
before  him.  With  a  few  faithful  followers  the  king 
fled  over  the  Jordan.  But  one  of  the  counsellors  of 
Absolom  was  a  secret  friend  of  David,  and  he  per- 
suaded Absolom  to  wait  and  not  attack  the  king 
in  the  disadvantage  of  his  weakness.  So  David 
was  able  to  assemble  men  about  him.  Then  there 
was  a  battle,  Absolom  leading  one  side  and  David's 
general,  Joab,  leading  the  other.  And  Joab  found 
Absolom  in  the  woods,  among  the  thick  trees,  caught 
fast,  and  he  killed  him.  So  the  war  was  over,  but 
the  death  of  his  son  was  a  bitter  sorrow  to  the  king. 

At  last,  in  his  old  age,  another  son,  Adonijah, 
tried  to  get  the  crown  from  Solomon.  Adonijah 
made  many  friends,  and  invited  them  to  a  great 

112 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

dinner,  and  there  they  hailed  him  as  the  king. 
They  cried  "Long  Uve  the  King!'^  But  the  news 
came  to  David,  and  immediately  he  set  Solomon 
upon  his  throne.  So  that  conspiracy  failed.  Then 
David  died,  and  Solomon  reigned  in  his  stead. 


113 


THE  GLORY  OF  SOLOMON 

I  Kings  1-11. 

1.  The  conspiracy  of  Adonijah  1,  2. 

2.  The  wisdom  of  Solomon  3:2-28,  4:29-34 

3.  The  splendor  of  Solomon. 

(1)  The  court,  4. 

(2)  The  temple. 

a.  The  building,  6. 
6.  The  dedication,  8. 

(3)  The  palace,  7. 

(4)  The  visit  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  10. 

4.  The  troubles  of  Solomon,  11. 

(1)  The  idols  of  the  foreign  wives. 

(2)  Hadad  of  Edom  and  Rezin  of  Damascus. 

(3)  Jeroboam,  the  overseer. 

/^NE  night  King  Solomon  had  a  dream,  and  in 
the  dream  he  was  told  that  he  might  have 
whatever  he  wished,  and  he  wished  to  be  wise. 
The  dream  came  true,  and  Solomon  was  the  wis- 
est of  men.  Thus  his  power  and  his  wealth  and  his 
kingdom  increased. 

One  time  two  women  came  to  Solomon  bringing 
one  baby.  One  mother  said,  "The  baby  is  mine  " ; 
the  other  mother  said,  '^  The  baby  is  mine.^'  And 
Solomon  said,  ''Let  the  child  be  cut  in  two,  and 

114 


The  Judgment  of  Solomon 


Dore 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HEBREW^KINGDOM 

give  half  to  one  mother  and  half  to  the  other/' 
Then  the  true  mother  cried  out,  ^^No!  let  her  have 
it  rather  than  kill  it/'  So  the  wise  king  knew  to 
which  of  the  women  the  child  belonged. 

Solomon  put  Adonijah  to  death,  who  had  con- 
spired to  take  the  throne;  and  Joab  also,  the  great 
general  of  David,  who  had  taken  Adonijah's  part. 
He  gathered  about  him  a  multitude  of  courtiers, 
so  many  that  every  day  they  ate  so  much  bread 
that  there  was  need  of  six  hundred  bushels  of  fine 
flour  and  twelve  hundred  bushels  of  meal  to  make 
it,  and  so  much  meat  that  they  killed  ten  fat  oxen 
and  twenty  meadow-fed  oxen,  and  a  hundred 
sheep,  and  nobody  knows  how  many  fatted  fowls. 
These  provisions  were  supplied  by  the  people. 
Solomon  divided  the  land  into  twelve  parts,  and 
each  part  was  responsible  for  the  food  of  the  court 
for  one  month. 

Not  only  did  the  people  bring  to  Solomon  day 
by  day  their  wheat  and  their  cattle,  but  they 
worked  for  him,  cutting  down  great  cedar  trees  in 
the  forests  of  Lebanon,  getting  out  blocks  of  stone 
from  the  quarries,  and  sailing  ships  on  the  Red 
Sea.  The  ships  went  to  the  lands  of  the  far  east 
and  came  back  with  gold,  and  red  sandal-wood, 
and  precious  stones,  and  ivory  and  apes  and  pea- 

115 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

cocks;  thus  Solomon  grew  very  rich.  The  blocks 
of  stone  and  the  cedar  trees  he  used  in  making 
splendid  buildings, — a  palace  and  a  temple. 

The  temple  of  Solomon  was  one  of  the  most 
famous  buildings  of  the  ancient  world.  Outside, 
before  the  door,  was  a  great  altar  cut  in  the  rock 
of  the  hill;  here  were  offered  sacrifices  of  sheep 
and  oxen.  Beside  this  altar  was  a  vast  bowl  of 
brass  which  held  sixteen  thousand  gallons  of 
water;  and  there  were  ten  smaller  bowls  in  which 
the  water  was  carried  about  that  the  priests  might 
wash  their  hands.  The  entrance  to  the  porch  of 
the  temple  was  between  two  lofty  brazen  pillars. 
The  temple  had  two  rooms,  the  outer  room,  called 
the  Holy  Place,  contained  a  table  on  which  were 
laid  twelve  loaves  of  bread,  one  for  each  of  the 
tribes  of  Israel;  and  beside  the  table  was  a  candle- 
stick with  seven  branches.  The  inner  room,  called 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  contained  two  winged  figures, 
each  of  them  almost  three  times  as  tall  as  a  man, 
and  between  the  two,  under  their  outstretched 
wings,  was  the  ark  of  God.  The  walls  of  the 
temple  were  of  massive  stone,  lined  with  cedar. 
The  men  who  superintended  the  cutting  of  the 
stone  and  the  placing  of  the  cedar  were  Phoeni- 
cians, sent  to  David  by  Hiram,  king  of  Tyre. 

116 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

Besides  the  temple  was  the  palace.  One  of  the 
rooms  had  so  many  cedar  pillars  that  it  was  called 
the  House  of  the  Forest  of  Lebanon.  In  another 
room  stood  the  king's  throne,  made  of  gold  and 
ivory,  with  two  carved  lions  beside  it,  and  twelve 
lions  on  the  steps  which  led  to  it.  Solomon's  guard 
had  shields  of  gold,  and  all  the  cups  on  Solomon's 
table  were  of  pure  gold. 

But  as  the  wealth  of  Solomon  increased,  he 
ceased  to  be  as  wise  as  he  was  at  the  beginning. 
He  married  many  foreign  wives,  as  was  the  way 
with  kings  in  those  days,  in  order  to  ally  himself  in 
friendship  with  foreign  lands.  And  each  wife 
brought  her  religion  with  her,  and  the  king  built 
shrines  for  all  these  foreign  gods;  for  Chemosh, 
the  god  of  Moab,  and  for  Milcom,  the  god  of  Am- 
mon,  and  for  Astarte,  the  goddess  of  Sidon.  He 
forgot  the  word  of  the  Lord  who  said,  ^'Thou  shalt 
have  no  other  gods  but  me." 

Then  enemies  arose  against  the  king.  The 
Edomites  and  the  Midianites  and  the  Arameans 
of  Damascus  troubled  him.  But  his  chief  enemy 
was  one  of  his  own  officers.  Jeroboam,  a  man  of  the 
tribe  of  Ephraim,  was  in  charge  of  the  men  of  his 
own  tribe  who  were  building  the  king's  palace. 
And  the  men  rebelled  against  the  king.     They 

117 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

protested  against  the  government  of  Solomon 
which  was  altogether  for  his  own  glory  and  not  for 
the  good  of  the  people,  and  against  their  own  hard 
labor  and  poor  pay.     Jeroboam  was  their  leader. 

One  day,  as  Jeroboam  was  in  the  field,  clad  in  a 
new  cloak,  the  prophet  Abijah  met  him,  and 
Abijah  took  the  cloak  of  Jeroboam  and  tore  it  into 
twelve  pieces,  and  ten  of  the  pieces  he  gave  to 
Jeroboam,  saying,  '^The  Lord  shalt  take  the  king- 
dom out  of  the  hand  of  Solomon,  and  of  the  twelve 
tribes  you  shall  have  ten.'^  This  Solomon  heard, 
and  Jeroboam  had  to  flee  for  his  life  to  Egypt. 

Thus  the  last  days  of  Solomon  were  days  of 
trouble.  He  made  for  himself  a  great  name  and  a 
mighty  kingdom,  he  gathered  riches  about  him 
and  lived  splendidly;  but  he  oppressed  his  people 
and  they  hated  him.  Then  he  died,  and  his  son 
Rehoboam  reigned  in  his  stead. 


118 


THE  REVOLUTION 

I  Kings  12-14 

1.  The  revolt  of  the  ten  tribes,  12:1-24. 

2.  The  Kingdom  of  Israel:     Jeroboam  (937-915) 

(1)  The  golden  calves,  12:25-33. 

(2)  The  altar  in  Bethel,  13. 

(3)  The  curse  of  Abijah,  14:1-20. 

3.  The  kingdom  of  Judah:     Rehoboam  (937-920) 

The  invasion  of  Shishak  14:21-31. 

With  the  division  of  the  Hebrew  kingdom,  we  begin  to 
come  upon  definite  dates.  Up  to  that  time  the  common 
custom  of  all  nations  was  to  reckon  from  the  first  year  of 
each  reigning  king.  In  the  eighth  century,  however,  the 
Greeks  took  the  year  which  we  now  call  776  B.  C.  and  called 
it  the  Frst  Olympiad;  i.  e.  the  date  of  the  first  Olympic 
games.  The  Romans  took  753  B.  C.  and  called  it  the  year 
of  the  Foundation  of  the  City;  i.  e.  the  date  of  the  founding 
of  Rome  by  Romulus.  Assyrian  calendars  have  been  dis- 
covered containing  records  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years; 
in  one  of  these  years  was  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  which  has 
been  calculated  as  occurring  in  763.  By  this,  all  these  years 
are  dated.  Thus  we  learn  that  the  Assyrians  had  dealings 
with  Ahab,  king  of  Israel,  in  854,  and  with  Jehu,  king  of 
Israel,  in  842.  Sargon  destroyed  Samaria  in  722.  Sen- 
nacherib besieged  Jerusalem  in  701. 

119 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

"D  EHOBOAM,  the  new  king,  had  none  of  the 
wisdom  of  his  father.  He  went  to  meet  the 
assembled  tribes  at  Shechem  that  they  might  ac- 
cept him  as  their  ruler,  according  to  the  custom. 
Thus  Saul  had  become  king,  and  then  David,  and 
then  Solomon,  amidst  the  shouts  of  the  people. 
But  the  people  waited  until  Rehoboam  should  tell 
them  what  kind  of  a  king  he  meant  to  be.  They 
said,  "Your  father  was  very  hard  upon  us;  his 
yoke  was  heavier  than  we  could  bear,  he  made  us 
labor  much  and  paid  us  httle.  What  do  you  pro- 
pose to  do?" 

Then  Rehoboam  consulted  first  with  the  older 
men,  who  had  been  his  father's  friends,  but  who 
had  known  his  father's  faults,  and  they  advised 
him  to  give  back  to  the  people  their  old  rights 
and  liberties.  After  that,  he  consulted  with  the 
younger  men,  and  they  very  foolishly  advised  him, 
in  their  ignorance,  to  follow  Solomon's  example. 
And  Rehoboam  took  the  counsel  of  the  younger 
men.  He  answered  the  people  saying,  "My  father 
made  your  yoke  heavy;  I  will  make  it  heavier. 
He  chastised  you  with  whips;  I  will  chastise  you 
with  scourges." 

Then  there  was  a  great  cry,  but  nobody  shouted 
"God  save  the  king."    Instead  of  that,  the  word 

120 


DIVISION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

was  "To  your  tents,  O  Israel/'  And,  even  as 
Abijah  had  predicted,  ten  tribes  refused  to  have 
the  son  of  Solomon  for  king.  There  was  left  to 
Rehoboam  only  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  the  little 
tribe  of  Benjamin.  Thus  the  Israelites  were 
divided  and  became  two  kingdoms. 

Rehoboam  fled  to  Jerusalem,  and  there  reigned 
over  the  kingdom  of  Judah.  Not  only  had  he  lost 
the  larger  and  better  part  of  the  lands  of  his  father, 
but  the  Egyptians  came  up  and  plundered  him, 
and  carried  away  the  golden  shields  of  Solomon. 
Rehoboam  put  brass  ones  in  their  places. 

As  for  the  northern  tribes,  they  called  Jeroboam 
to  be  ruler  over  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  He  made 
Shechem  his  capital  and  in  order  to  keep  his 
people  from  going  to  Jerusalem  to  worship  God, 
he  set  up  golden  calves  or  bulls,  like  the  winged 
figures  in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  one  at  Bethel  in  the 
south  of  his  country,  the  other  at  Dan  in  the  north. 
Thus  the  two  kingdoms  were  divided  not  only  in 
government  but  in  religion. 

To  the  men  of  Judah,  the  men  of  Israel  seemed 
to  have  rebelled  both  against  the  house  of  David 
and  the  church  of  God. 

It  was  reported  in  Jerusalem  that  a  man  of  God 
from  Judah  rebuked  King  Jeroboam  at  his  altar 

121 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

in  Bethel,  and  that  when  the  king  put  forth  his 
hand  to  seize  the  prophet,  his  arm  was  paralyzed, 
and  the  altar  was  broken. 

It  was  reported  also  that  when  Jeroboam's  son 
fell  sick,  the  queen  went  to  beg  prayers  of  the  old 
prophet  Abijah,  the  same  who  had  torn  the  cloak 
of  Jeroboam.  She  went  in  disguise,  but  Abijah 
knew  her,  and  as  he  had  blessed  Jeroboam  in  the 
old  days  so  now  he  cursed  him  with  a  bitter  curse. 
The  child,  he  said,  should  die,  and  all  the  descend- 
ants of  Jeroboam  should  come  to  evil  ends;  dogs 
should  eat  their  dead  bodies  in  the  city,  and  birds 
in  the  field. 

Nothing  was  too  bad  to  be  believed  concerning 
Jeroboam  in  Jerusalem. 

Nevertheless,  Jeroboam  reigned  well  over  the 
northern  kingdom  for  twenty  years.  By  far  the 
greater  part  of  the  empire  of  Saul  and  David  and 
Solomon  was  under  his  rule.  The  land  was  fertile 
in  the  sunny  valleys.  The  ancient  highways  be- 
tween Egypt  and  Assyria  lay  across  it,  and  brought 
the  people  into  relation  with  the  trade  of  the  world; 
and  they  increased  in  wealth  and  power. 

The  southern  kingdom  had  two  advantages  over 
the  northern.  One  was  the  possession  of  the 
ancient  capital,  Jerusalem;    the  other  was  the 

122 


DIVISION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

peaceful  descent  of  the  crown  from  father  to  son, 
in  the  line  of  the  family  of  David.  The  northern 
kingdom,  having  its  beginning  in  a  revolution, 
suffered  from  a  series  of  revolutions.  Jeroboam's 
son,  after  a  reign  of  two  years,  was  killed  by 
Baasha.  Baasha's  son  was  killed  by  Zimri,  the 
commander  of  his  chariots.  Zimri,  after  a  reign 
of  seven  days,  was  beseiged  by  Omri,  commander 
of  the  army,  and  burned  in  the  ruins  of  his  palace. 
Omri  is  remembered  for  the  wisdom  with  which 
he  chose  a  new  capital  for  the  kingdom  of  Israel, 
building  on  a  hill  the  strong  city  of  Samaria.  After 
him  came  Ahab. 


123 


ELIJAH  AND  ELISHA 

I  Kings  15-11  Kings  9 

1.  The  ministry  of  Elijah. 

(1)  The  dry  brook  and  the  cruse  of  oil,  I  Kings, 

17. 

(2)  The   prophet    of    the    Lord    and    Baal's 

prophets,  18. 

(3)  The  still  small  voice,  19. 

(4)  Naboth's  vineyard,  21. 

(5)  The  prophet  and  the  captains,  II  Kings  1, 

(6)  The  chariot  of  fire,  2. 

2.  The  ministry  of  Elisha. 

(1)  The  conquest  of  Moab,  3. 

(2)  The  woman  of  Shunem,  4. 

(3)  The  leprosy  of  Naaman,  5. 

(4)  The  seige  of  Samaria,  6,  7. 

(5)  Elisha  sends  Hazael  to  kill  the  King  of 

Damascus,  8:7-15. 

(6)  Elisha  sends  Jehu  to  kill  the  King  of  Israel, 

9. 

A  HAB  greatly  strengthened  the  northern  king- 
dom by  making  friends  with  three  import- 
antneighbors :  with  the  Syrians  of  Damascus  in  the 
east,  with  the  kingdom  of  Judah  in  the  south,  and 
with  the  Phoenicians  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  in  the 
west. 

124 


DIVISION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

He  had  inherited  from  his  father  Omri  a  war 
with  the  people  of  Damascus.  The  king  of  that 
city,  Benhadad,  was  so  strong  and  confident  that 
he  sent  word  to  Ahab  that  he  was  coming  to 
Samaria  to  carry  away  all  the  gold  and  silver,  and 
whatever  else  he  liked.  But  Ahab  went  out  to 
meet  him,  and  drove  him  back.  This  he  did  twice. 
The  second  time  Ahab  not  only  defeated  the  army 
of  Damascus,  but  captured  the  king,  Benhadad. 
Having  him  thus  in  his  power  he  made  him  promise 
to  give  up  certain  cities  which  he  had  taken  from 
Israel,  and  not  to  fight  against  Israel  any  more. 
Thus  he  made  peace  with  Damascus,  and  opened 
the  great  roads  of  travel  and  trade  toward  the 
east. 

War  had  been  going  on  with  the  kingdom  of 
Judah  most  of  the  time  since  the  Revolution.  But 
Ahab  made  peace  with  Jerusalem  by  giving  his 
daughter,  Athaliah,  in  marriage  to  the  king  of 
Judah,  Jehoram. 

Ahab  himself  married  Jezebel,  the  daughter  of 
the  king  of  Tyre.  Thus  he  made  peace  with  the 
Phoenicians,  and  opened  the  great  roads  of  trade 
and  travel  toward  the  west. 

By  these  alliances  Ahab  became  a  great  king. 
The  people  prospered  and  grew  rich.    They  built 

125 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

cities,  filled  with  fine  houses.  They  sent  out 
caravans  laden  with  wheat,  and  caravans  came  in 
from  Damascus  and  from  Tyre  and  from  Jeru- 
salem bringing  precious  things  for  sale.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  golden  days  of  Solomon  had  returned. 

But  Ahab  repeated  not  only  the  splendors  but 
the  sins  of  Solomon.  One  bad  thing  which  he  did 
was  to  oppress  his  people,  making  himself  rich  at 
their  expense.  Another  bad  thing  was  to  build 
beside  the  altar  of  the  Lord  a  temple  to  Baal,  the 
god  of  the  Phoenicians.  These  sins  were  suggested 
by  Jezebel,  his  wife.  She  wished  him  to  be  the 
kind  of  king  in  Samaria  which  her  father  was  in 
Tyre.  And  she  brought  her  own  religion  with  her. 
The  temple  of  Baal  was  great  and  splendid,  and 
hundreds  of  priests  ministered  in  it.  As  for  the 
priests  of  the  Lord,  Jezebel  hated  them,  and  tried 
to  drive  them  out  of  the  land. 

The  man  who  saved  the  liberty  of  Israel  from 
the  tyranny  of  Ahab,  and  the  religion  of  Israel 
from  the  idolatry  of  Jezebel,  was  Elijah.  Elijah 
was  a  prophet  from  the  desert.  His  hair  and  beard 
were  long  and  flowing,  and  his  cloak  was  the  skin 
of  a  camel,  and  he  had  a  long  staff  in  his  hand. 

Ahab  wished  to  have  more  ground  for  his 
garden  by  the  palace  in  Samaria,  but  the  place 

126 


DIVISION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

which  he  desired  was  owned  by  a  man  named 
Naboth,  who  had  a  vineyard  there,  and  he  would 
not  sell  it,  even  to  the  king.  Then  Jezebel  got 
men  to  bear  false  witness  against  Naboth,  saying 
that  he  had  broken  some  of  the  laws;  and  Naboth 
was  arrested  and  tried  and  condemned,  and  stoned 
to  death.  "Now,''  said  Jezebel  to  Ahab,  **you 
may  take  the  vineyard.  Naboth  is  dead.''  But 
Elijah  went  to  meet  Ahab,  and  found  him  in  the 
vineyard,  and  he  called  the  curse  of  God  upon  him 
because  he  had  done  that  thing.  He  made  him  see 
that  God  is  against  all  such  robbery  and  murder, 
and  that  He  must  be  obeyed  even  by  the  greatest 
kings. 

One  time  there  was  a  famine  in  the  land,  the 
ground  was  dry,  and  nothing  would  grow  in  the 
fields.  And  the  people  prayed  to  Baal  to  help 
them.  They  felt  that  Baal  was  really  the  god  of 
the  land,  and  could  make  the  rain  fall  and  the  sun 
shine  as  he  pleased,  and  that  their  own  Lord  God 
was  not  so  mighty.  They  had  not  yet  come  to 
know  that  there  is  one  God  over  all  the  earth  and 
sky.  At  last,  the  king  called  a  great  assembly  on 
Mount  Carmel  to  pray  for  rain;  and  the  priests 
of  Baal  were  there,  four  hundred  and  fifty  of 
them,  but  on  the  Lord's  side  was  Elijah  only.    So 

127 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

they  prayed;  first  the  priests  of  Baal,  crying  aloud 
and  cutting  themselves  with  knives,  but  getting 
no  reply;  and  then  Elijah.  The  story  of  Elijah's 
prayer  became  one  of  the  famous  memories  of 
Israel.  Men  said  that  as  he  prayed  the  lightning 
began  to  flash,  and  the  thunder  began  to  roll,  and 
the  sky  became  black  with  clouds.  And  the  people 
cried,  "The  Lord,  he  is  the  God!  The  Lord,  he  is 
the  God!''    And  the  rain  fell. 

All  this,  however,  made  no  difference  with 
Jezebel.  She  sought  to  kill  Elijah,  so  that  he  had 
to  flee  for  his  life.  Away  he  went  into  the  wilder- 
ness of  the  south,  in  deep  despair,  and  sitting  down 
under  a  juniper  tree  he  desired  to  die,  feeling  that 
he  was  of  no  use  in  the  world.  Thence  he  went 
into  the  desert  of  the  east,  to  the  land  where  Moses 
had  gone  up  into  Mount  Sinai  to  meet  God.  And 
as  Elijah  waited  on  the  mountain,  there  was  a 
great  and  strong  wind,  and  then  an  earthquake, 
and  then  a  fire;  and,  after  the  wind  and  the  earth- 
quake and  the  fire,  a  still,  small  voice,  speaking  in 
Elijah's  soul.  Thus  he  knew  that  the  Lord  was  on 
his  side.  And  the  still,  small  voice  told  him  to  call 
Ehsha  to  be  a  prophet  to  follow  in  his  steps,  and 
to  anoint  Jehu  to  be  king  over  Israel  that  he  might 
destroy  the  religion  of  Baal. 

128 


DIVISION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

So  Elijah  called  Elisha,  meeting  him  in  the  field 
where  he  was  plowing  with  twelve  yoke  of  oxen, 
and  casting  his  mantle  over  his  shoulders.  And 
Elisha  became  a  prophet.  As  for  Elijah,  men 
loved  to  tell  in  after  days  how  he  was  taken  up 
into  heaven  riding  in  a  chariot  of  fire. 

Also  Ahab  ended  his  Hfe  in  a  chariot,  but  very 
differently.  For  war  arose  again  between  the  men  of 
Damascus  and  the  men  of  Samaria,  and  Ahab  sent 
for  his  neighbor  Jehoshaphat  of  Jerusalem  to  help 
him.  Now,  before  the  battle,  the  king  of  Israel  and 
the  king  of  Judah  sat  each  on  his  throne  in  the  gate 
of  Samaria  and  called  the  four  hundred  prophets  of 
the  Lord  who  were  in  that  place  to  counsel  them. 
The  kings  said,  ^^ Shall  we  go  to  war,  or  not?*' 
And  all  the  prophets  said,  ''Go  and  prosper." 
But  there  stood  up  against  them  one  honest 
prophet  named  Micaiah,  who  said,  "I  saw  all 
Israel  scattered  upon  the  hills,  as  sheep  having  no 
shepherd."  Nevertheless,  the  kings  disregarded 
the  warning  of  Micaiah,  and  went  to  battle  with 
Benhadad.  And  the  battle  went  against  the  two 
kings.  Jehoshaphat  fled  for  his  life,  and  Ahab  was 
wounded  with  an  arrow.  He  stood  in  his  chariot 
and  tried  to  rally  his  soldiers,  but  as  the  sun  went 
down  he  died,  and  the  day  was  lost. 

129 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

Now  Elisha  had  taken  the  place  of  Elijah. 
Instead  of  living  like  his  master  in  the  hills  and 
deserts,  he  dwelt  among  the  people.  One  of  his 
homes  was  with  a  man  and  his  wife  who  furnished 
a  chamber  for  him,  providing  a  bed  and  a  table 
and  a  stool  and  a  candlestick.  One  time  their 
little  son  fell  sick,  crying,  ^^My  head!  My  head!'' 
and  they  sent  for  EHsha,  and  he  found  the  boy 
lying  as  one  dead,  and  he  prayed  and  brought  him 
back  to  life. 

One  time  a  captain  of  the  king  of  Damascus  fell 
sick  with  leprosy.  And  there  was  a  little  Israelite 
girl  in  his  family,  who  had  been  brought  away 
captive  in  the  war  between  Damascus  and  Sa- 
maria; and  she  said,  "If  my  master,  Naaman, 
were  to  go  to  Israel,  there  is  a  prophet  there  who 
could  recover  him.''  So  Naaman  went,  and  came 
to  the  house  of  Elisha,  and  he  sent  him  to  wash  in 
the  river  Jordan.  And  as  he  washed,  he  was 
cleansed. 

One  time,  the  men  of  Damascus  fought  so  hard 
against  the  men  of  Samaria  that  they  shut  up  the 
city  of  Samaria,  and  nobody  could  go  out  or  come 
in,  and  the  people  in  the  city  began  to  be  very 
hungry.  At  last,  when  they  were  in  danger  of 
starvation,  Elisha  said,  ''We  shall  have  food  to- 

130 


DIVISION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

morrow.'^  And  that  night,  four  men  said  one  to 
another,  "If  we  stay  here  we  shall  die,  and  if  we 
go  out  to  the  camp  of  the  enemy  and  ask  for  food 
they  can  do  no  worse  than  put  us  to  death.  Let 
us  take  the  risk.'^  But  when  they  came  to  the 
camp,  it  was  empty.  A  sudden  fear  had  fallen  on 
the  men  of  Damascus,  and  they  had  fled  away. 

At  last,  the  time  came  for  EUsha  to  do  the 
errand  which  had  been  entrusted  to  him  by 
Elijah.  Joram,  the  son  of  Ahab,  was  now  the  king 
of  Israel,  and  Ahaziah,  the  son  of  Ahab's  daughter, 
Athaliah,  was  king  of  Judah.  The  war  was  still  in 
progress  against  the  Syrians  of  Damascus.  Joram 
had  been  wounded;  Ahaziah  had  come  to  see  himf 
and  the  two  kings  were  in  the  fortress  of  Jezreel. 
The  captain  in  the  field  was  Jehu.  To  Jehu 
Elisha  sent  a  messenger,  who  anointed  him  with 
oil,  as  Samuel  had  anointed  Saul,  crying,  "Thus 
saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  I  have  anointed  thee 
king  over  the  people  of  the  Lord." 

Then  Jehu  told  his  soldiers,  and  they  shouted, 
"Jehu  is  king!"  And  Jehu  set  out  for  Jezreel, 
driving  furiously  up  the  long  valley  from  the 
Jordan.  The  two  kings  came  out  to  meet  him,  and 
he  killed  them  both,  shooting  them  with  arrows. 
Jezebel  looked  out  upon  him  from  a  window,  and 

131 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

he  called  to  men  inside  to  throw  her  down.  So  she 
fell  and  died,  and  he  trod  her  under  the  feet  of 
his  horses.  Then  he  gathered  the  priests  of  Baal 
together  as  for  a  solemn  assembly  in  BaaFs  temple, 
and  he  sent  his  soldiers  in,  and  they  locked  the 
doors,  and  when  they  came  out  not  one  of  BaaFs 
priests  was  left  alive.  In  this  fierce  and  bloody 
manner,  according  to  the  customs  of  those  old 
times,  the  contention  between  the  two  religions, 
of  the  Lord  and  of  Baal,  was  decided. 


132 


KINGS,  NORTH  AND  SOUTH 

I  Kings  15-11  Kings  14. 

Judah  Israel 

(The  House  of  David)  (The  House  of  Jeroboam) 

Rehoboam  (937-920)  Jeroboam  (937-915) 

Abijam  (920-917)  Nadab  (915-914) 

I  Kings  15:1-8  I  Kings  15:25-27 

Asa  (917-876)  Baasha  (914-890) 

15:8-33  usurper  15:27-16:7 
Asa  fights  with  Baasha  and  buys  the  aid  of  the  Syrians. 

Elah.  Zimri.  (890-889)  16:8-20. 
(The  House  of  Omri) 
Omri  (889-875) 
Builds  Samaria  16 :20-28 
Jehoshaphat  (876-851)  Ahab  (875-853) 

16:29-22:40 
War  with  Syria,  20. 
Jehoshaphat  joins  Ahab  against  Syrians,  22 

Ahaziah  (853-852) 

22:51-11  Kings  1. 
Joram  (852-842) 
8:28-9:37. 
Jehoshaphat  joins  Joram  against  Moabites,  3. 
Joram  (851-843) 

8:16-24. 
Ahaziah  (843-842) 

133 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

Ahaziah  and  Joram  of  Israel  killed  by  Jehu  8 :25-9 :27 

(The  House  of  Jehu) 
Athaliah  (842-836)  Jehu  (842-815) 

usurper,  11.  usurper,  10. 

Joash  (836-796)  Jehoahaz  (815-798) 

Repairs  temple,  12  Subject  to  Syria,  13:1-9 

Amaziah  (796-789)  Joash  (798-782) 

Amaziah  is  defeated  in  war  with  Joash,  14. 
Uzziah  and  Jotham  (789-735)     Jeroboam  II  (782-741) 
15:1-7  14:23-29 

Forty  years  of  peace  and  prosperity. 

A  MONG  the  rulers  of  the  two  kingdoms,  north 
and  south,  four  are  especially  to  be  remem- 
bered; in  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  Jehu,  and  at  the 
sametime  in  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  Athaliah;  also 
in  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  Jeroboam  II,  and  at  the 
same  time  in  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  Uzziah. 
Athaliah,  like  Jehu,  was  a  usurper.  When  she 
heard  that  Jehu  had  killed  her  son  Ahaziah,  she 
seized  the  throne  of  Judah.  Jehu  had  begun  his 
reign  by  killing  all  of  the  royal  family  of  Israel; 
Athaliah  tried  to  follow  his  example.  She  suc- 
ceeded in  killing  all  her  grandchildren,  the  princes 
of  Judah,  except  one.  Little  Joash,  Ahaziah's  son, 
was  hidden  by  his  aunt  and  his  nurse,  and  the 
queen  did  not  find  him.  Thus  he  lived  in  hiding 
for  six  years.     Then  a  brave  priest,    Jehoida, 

brought  certain  trusted  rulers  and  captains  intp 

134 


DIVISION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

the  temple,  and  showed  them  the  king^s  son.  And 
on  an  appointed  day,  when  all  was  ready,  the 
little  prince  was  crowned  in  the  temple,  all  the 
soldiers  standing  about  him  with  swords  drawn, 
shouting,  ^^God  save  the  king!*'  And  AthaUah 
heard  the  noise  and  came  into  the  temple,  and 
when  she  saw  the  armed  men,  and  the  prince  with 
the  crown  upon  his  head,  she  cried  ^^ Treason! 
Treason !''  But  all  the  people  were  on  the  side  of 
the  young  king.  So  Athaliah  was  put  to  death, 
and  the  temple  of  Baal  in  which  she  had  wor- 
shipped, hke  her  mother  Jezebel,  was  broken  down. 

The  most  prosperous  of  the  kings  of  Israel  was 
Jeroboam  II.  Also  prosperous  among  the  kings 
of  Judah  was  Uzziah.  These  two  reigned  in  the 
first  half  of  the  eighth  century  before  Christ,  each 
of  them  for  about  forty  years.  A  great  part  of 
their  peace  and  prosperity  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
their  old  enemies,  the  Syrians  of  Damascus,  were 
attacked  by  invaders  from  the  east.  The  new  foes 
were  the  Assyrians. 

The  world-power  with  which  the  Israelites  had 
thus  far  been  acquainted  was  Egypt,  at  the 
western  corner  of  the  Semitic  triangle,  where  their 
fathers  had  been  slaves.  But  now  Assyria,  at  the 
eastern  corner,  began  to  push  its  boundaries  to- 

135 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

ward  the  Mediterranean.  Already,  as  their  own 
inscriptions  show,  the  Assyrians  had  defeated 
Ahab,  and  had  received  tribute  from  Jehu.  They 
appeared  afar  off  on  the  horizon  hke  the  first  black 
clouds  of  a  great  storm.  On  they  came,  in  fierce 
and  mighty  invasion.  Their  attack  fell  first  upon 
the  kingdom  of  Damascus. 

Thus  Jeroboam  II  and  Uzziah,  being  delivered 
from  the  fear  of  the  Syrians,  and  understanding 
only  very  dimly  that  the  same  destruction  was 
coming  on  them  also,  extended  their  boundaries 
and  their  markets,  and  restored  again  for  the 
moment  an  empire  which  if  it  had  been  united 
would  have  been  even  greater  than  Solomon's. 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  these  two  kings  that  the 
first  books  of  the  Bible  were  written.  Two  pro- 
phets, Amos  and  Hosea,  not  only  preached  sermons 
against  the  evils  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  but 
wrote  them  down  in  the  form  in  which  we  have 
them  now. 

Already  there  were  songs  and  psalms,  some  of 
them  older  than  the  time  of  David ;  and  there  were 
proverbs,  as  old  as  the  time  of  Solomon.  But 
neither  psalms  nor  proverbs  had  been  gathered 
together  into  books.  It  is  probable  that  the  lives 
of  Elijah  and  Elisha  had  been  written,  and  that 

136 


DIVISION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

there  were  accounts  of  the  reigns  of  Saul  and  David 
and  Solomon,  and  of  the  Revolution,  and  of  the 
events  after  the  Revolution,  but  these  were  not 
yet  collected  to  make  the  books  of  Samuel  and 
Kings.  And  there  were  stories  of  the  ancient 
time,  and  laws,  some  written  and  some  unwritten. 
It  is  likely  that  in  the  days  of  Jeroboam  II  and  of 
Uzziah,  good  men  in  the  kingdom  of  Israel  and 
good  men  in  the  kingdom  of  Judah  were  making 
the  collections  of  these  memorable  stories  and 
records  which  were  afterwards  put  together  to 
form  the  books  of  Genesis  and  Exodus  and  others. 
As  yet,  however,  there  was  no  Bible.  The 
materials  for  a  Bible  were  many  of  them  at  hand, 
like  the  boards  and  beams  and  bricks  to  make  a 
house,  but  they  were  not  built  into  our  Bible  book. 
Amos  was  the  first  book  of  the  Bible  to  be  written; 
Hosea  was  the  second. 


137 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  ASSYRIANS 

II  Kings  15-20 

Judah  Israel 

Ahaz  (735-715)  Zechariah  (741) 

16:1-20  15:8-12 

Shallum  (741) 

Usurper,  15:10-15 
Menahem  (741-737) 
Assyrians  take  tribute 
15:14-22 
Pekahiah  (737) 

15:23-26 
Pekah  (736-734) 

Assyrians  invade  15:27-31 
Ahab  being  besieged  by  Pekah  buys  the  aid  of  the 
Assyrians. 
Hezekiah  (715-686)  Hosea  (734-722) 

18,  19,  20  Assyrians  destroy  the 

Kingdom  of  Israel  17:1-41. 
Assyrians  besiege  Jerusalem  (701) 

TEROBOAM  II  was  the  last  strong  king  of  Israel. 
His  son  was  murdered  after  a  reign  of  six 
months;  the  man  who  murdered  him  reigned  only 
onemonth.  The  land  was  filled  with  disorder.  One 
king,  indeed,  ruled  for  several  years,  but  his  son  was 
killedaf ter  a  brief  reign.  Pekah,  who  thus  seized  the 

138 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

crown  by  killing  the  king,  joined  with  Rezin,  king 
of  Damascus,  in  defying  Assyria.  The  Assyrians 
kept  sending  to  Damascus  and  to  Samaria,  de- 
manding money,  and  Pekah  and  Rezin  determined 
not  to  pay  it. 

In  order,  however,  to  defy  Assyria  successfully, 
they  must  have  the  help  of  their  neighbors.  So 
they  sent  to  Jerusalem,  to  Ahaz,  king  of  Judah,  to 
ask  him  to  come  with  his  army  and  join  their 
armies.  But  Ahaz  would  not  do  it.  And  when 
they  tried  to  make  him  do  it,  and  began  to  march 
their  armies  down  to  attack  Jerusalem,  Ahaz  sent 
messengers  to  Assyria,  with  a  great  amount  of  gold 
and  silver  from  the  palace  and  the  temple,  and 
said,  "All  this  will  I  give,  if  you  will  save  me  from 
the  armies  of  Pekah  and  Rezin.'' 

Now  the  king  of  Assyria  at  that  time  was  Tig- 
lath-pileser.  He  was  a  strong  ruler,  and  it  was  his 
desire  to  conquer  the  world.  He  had  invented  a 
remarkable  plan  whereby,  when  he  conquered  a 
nation,  it  should  stay  conquered.  His  plan  was  to 
remove  a  great  portion  of  the  people  of  the  de- 
feated nation,  and  settle  them  in  other  parts  of  his 
vast  empire,  and  bring  in  new  people  in  their  place. 
Thus  a  conquered  kingdom  lost  its  very  existence. 

Tiglath-pileser  took  the  treasures  which  Ahaz 

139 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

sent  and  marched  his  tremendous  army  against 
the  kingdom  of  Damascus  and  against  the  king- 
dom of  Israel.  That  was  the  end  of  the  power  of 
Damascus.  The  city  was  destroyed  and  the 
people  carried  into  exile.  It  was  the  beginning  of 
the  end  of  the  power  of  Israel.  A  great  number  of 
the  people  were  taken  into  Assyria,  and  the  land 
became  an  Assyrian  province. 

Some  years  later,  the  people  ventured  to  rebel 
against  their  masters,  hoping,  but  in  vain,  for  help 
from  Egypt.  Then  the  Assyrians,  under  Sargon 
their  king,  completed  the  destruction  of  the  nation. 
They  pulled  down  the  city  of  Samaria,  after  a  long 
seige.  They  carried  away  thousands  of  the  people 
into  their  own  lands  beside  the  Euphrates  and  the 
Tigris.  Some  settled  here,  some  there,  and  lost 
both  their  nationality  and  their  religion.  They 
became  like  their  victorious  neighbors,  into  whose 
families  they  married,  and  whose  customs  they 
adopted. 

New  people  were  brought  from  Assyria  to  settle 
the  land  from  which  the  men  of  Israel  had  been 
taken.  But  at  first  they  were  so  few  that  the  lions 
attacked  them.  Out  of  the  woods  around  the 
ruined  cities  came  the  lions.  At  last,  the  new 
colonists  said,  ''It  is  because  we  are  not  worship- 

140 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

ping  the  God  of  the  Land/'  And  they  sent  for 
priests  from  among  the  exiled  Israelites  to  come 
back  and  teach  the  Assyrian  colonists  the  religion 
of  the  God  of  the  Land.  Thus  they  settled  down 
together,  the  new  Assyrian  settlers  and  such  as 
were  left  of  the  Israelites,  and  their  religion  was 
partly  Israelite  and  partly  Assyrian.  They  were 
called  Samaritans. 

Thus  the  kingdom  of  Israel  was  ended,  after  a 
history  of  about  two  hundred  years.  The  date  of 
the  destruction  of  Samaria  is  722  B.C.  The  reign 
of  Jeroboam  I,  by  whom  the  kingdom  was  founded; 
the  reign  of  Ahab,  who  strengthened  it  by  alliances 
with  Damascus,  with  Jerusalem  and  with  Tyre; 
the  reign  of  Jehu,  the  usurper,  who  brought  to  a 
tragic  end  the  worship  of  Baal;  the  reign  of  Jero- 
boam II  whose  power  recalled  the  days  of  Solomon  j 
and  the  fall  of  Samaria  at  the  hands  of  the  Assy- 
rians, are  the  chief  chapters  of  its  history. 


141 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  CHALDEANS 

II  Kings  21-25 

Manasseh  (686-641) 

The  great  apostasy  21 :1-18 

Amon  (641-639)  21:19-26 

Josiah  (639-608) 

The  great  reformation  22:1-23:30 
Defeated  and  killed  by  Necho  of  Egypt 

Jehoahaz  (608) 

Dethroned  by  Necho  23:30-33 

Jehoiakim  (608-597) 

Chaldeans  take  Nineveh  (606),  defeat  Egyptians  at 
Carchemish  (605),  and  become  masters  of  Judah 
23:24-24:7 

Jehoiachin  (597) 

Chaldeans  take  Jerusalem,  and  carry  away  first  com- 
pany of  exiles  24:8-16  25:27-30 

Zedekiah  (597-586) 

Chaldeans  destroy  Jerusalem,  and  carry  away  second 
company  of  exiles,  24:17-25:21 

Gedaliah  made  governor  of  remnant  in  Judah;   killed  by 
Ishmael  who  flees  to  Egypt  25:22-26. 

"D Y  his  great  gift  of  gold  and  silver  to  the  king 
of  Assyria,  Ahaz  of  Judah  had  brought  about 
the  destruction  of  his  enemies  of  Damascus  and 
Samaria,  and  for  the  moment  had  gained  peace. 
But  trouble  was  near  at  hand.    Sennacherib  be- 

142 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

came  ruler  of  Assyria,  and  made  war  with  Egypt 
and  Ethiopia.  He  brought  his  army  down  over 
the  ancient  war-path  by  the  sea,  and  turned  aside 
to  destroy  Jerusalem.  He  sent  an  officer  to  de- 
mand the  surrender  of  the  city.  That  was  in  701, 
and  the  king  was  Hezekiah.  The  king  and  his 
people  were  in  the  utmost  fear.  Nothing  but 
desolation  and  death  seemed  possible. 

Outside  the  city  a  great  prophet  named  Micah 
was  declaring  that  the  distress  of  Jerusalem  was  a 
punishment  for  the  wickedness  of  its  inhabitants. 
But  within  the  city,  a  greater  prophet  named 
Isaiah,  while,  like  Micah,  he  rebuked  the  sins  of 
the  people,  nevertheless  declared  that  the  city 
should  be  saved.  Thus  he  prayed  to  God.  Then 
one  morning,  the  army  of  Sennacherib  suddenly 
marched  away.  Whether  they  had  news  of  trouble 
in  their  own  country,  or  whether  a  plague  broke 
out  among  them,  is  unknown.  Anyhow,  away 
they  went,  and  the  city  was  delivered. 

The  great  deliverance,  and  the  preaching  of 
Micah  and  Isaiah,  made  Hezekiah  a  reformer. 
One  thing  he  did  was  to  take  a  brazen  serpent 
which  was  kept  in  the  temple,  and  which  they  said 
Moses  had  made  in  the  desert,  and  break  it  in 
pieces.    The  like  he  did  also  to  other  idols. 

143 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

But  Hezekiah  died,  and  Manasseh  his  son 
reigned  in  his  stead,  and  all  this  reformation  ceased. 
The  simple  and  moral  religion  of  the  Israelites  had 
been  affected  all  along  by  the  ceremonial  and  im- 
moral religion  of  the  Canaanites.  There  were 
ancient  altars  on  the  high  hills  and  under  the  great 
trees,  and  although  the  people  who  prayed  at  these 
places  said  their  prayers  to  the  God  of  Israel,  they 
thought  about  God  as  the  Canaanites  had  thought 
about  their  gods,  and  believed  that  what  God 
cares  for  is  a  splendid  service,  with  singing  and 
lights  and  incense.  They  forgot  that  what  God 
cares  for  most  is  a  good  life. 

When  Manasseh  became  king,  he  encouraged 
all  this.  Besides  the  altar  of  the  God  of  Israel,  he 
built  altars  to  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars.  Even 
in  the  temple,  he  set  up  a  sacred  pole,  such  as  stood 
by  shrines  of  Baal.  And  the  prophets  of  the  true 
rehgion  who  protested  against  these  evils,  he 
persecuted.  It  seemed  for  a  long  time  as  if  the 
religion  of  the  Lord  God  had  perished  out  of  the 
land,  and  the  religion  of  the  Canaanites,  or  of  the 
Assyrians,  had  taken  its  place. 

Early,  however,  in  the  reign  of  Josiah,  a  book 
was  found  in  the  temple.  It  contained  chapters 
of  laws,  declaring  the  will  of  God.     These  laws 

144 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

forbade  all  the  evils  which  had  been  practised  in 
the  days  of  Manasseh  and  which  were  still  done 
by  many  of  the  people.  This  book  now  forms  the 
middle  part  of  Deuteronomy  —  a  name  which 
means  a  second  giving  of  the  law.  It  was  the 
ancient  law  of  Moses,  brought  together  out  of  old 
records  and  memories,  and  applied  to  the  needs 
of  that  day.  Some  things  it  omitted,  as  of  use 
only  in  the  life  of  a  desert  people;  other  things  it 
added,  as  the  will  of  God  had  been  revealed  by 
experience.  It  was  the  law  of  Moses,  rewritten  by 
men  who  saw  that  the  evils  of  Manasseh  were 
against  the  will  of  God,  and  who  said  so  in  this 
way.  It  was  an  explanation  of  the  ancient  law  in 
the  light  of  the  teachings  of  Amos  and  Hosea,  of 
Micah  and  Isaiah.  It  taught  the  love  of  God,  but 
it  showed  at  the  same  time  that  God  is  against  all 
wrong,  and  that  He  will  certainly  punish  all  wrong- 
doers. Also,  in  consequence  of  the  superstitions 
of  the  shrines  on  the  hills  and  under  the  trees,  it 
forbade  all  worship  in  these  places,  and  declared 
that  the  only  true  altar  of  God  was  in  the  temple 
at  Jerusalem. 

The  result  of  the  finding  of  this  book  was  a 
reformation.  Everything  that  the  book  said, 
Josiah  tried  to  do.    In  this  he  was  assisted  by  a 

145 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

good  priest,  Hilkiah,  and  by  earnest  prophets, 
one  of  whom  was  Zephaniah,  and  another  was 
Jeremiah. 

Meanwhile,  a  new  power  was  rising  in  the  east. 
Assyria,  which  had  ruled  the  world,  was  meeting 
mighty  enemies.  When  Zephaniah  wrote,  it 
seemed  likely  that  the  Assyrians  would  be  over- 
thrown by  the  Scythians,  whose  wild  armies  were 
coming  down  from  the  north.  But  the  victorious 
enemy  came  from  the  south.  The  Chaldeans, 
whose  capital  city  was  Babylon,  came  up  and 
conquered  the  Assyrians,  whose  capital  city  was 
Nineveh.  The  prophet  Nahum  heard  of  their 
triumphant  march  and  rejoiced  to  think  that 
great  Nineveh  should  at  last  be  brought  to  the 
ground.  But  the  prophet  Habakkuk  who  wrote 
after  the  destruction  of  Nineveh,  was  dismayed  to 
find  that  the  victorious  Chaldeans  were  coming 
on  into  the  west. 

Up  marched  the  Chaldeans  along  the  eastern 
side  of  the  Semitic  triangle,  and  up  marched  the 
Egyptians  along  the  western  side.  Thus  the 
Chaldean  army  under  Nebuchadnezzar  met,  at 
Carchemish,  the  Egyptian  army  under  Necho, 
and  the  two  fought  for  the  ownership  of  the  world. 
And    the   Babylonians   won    the   battle.      Then 

146 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  HEBREW  KINGDOM 

Nebuchadnezzar  continued  his  march,  and  came 
at  last  to  the  gates  of  Jerusalem. 

The  city  was  not  only  in  terror  but  in  mourning, 
for  Josiah  had  gone  out  with  his  army  to  attack 
the  Egyptians  on  their  way  to  Carchemish,  and 
had  been  defeated  and  killed.  Thus  died  the  last 
great  king  of  Judah. 

Nebuchadnezzar  was  content  for  the  time  to 
take  possession  of  Jerusalem  and  Judah.  The 
land  was  left  to  be  governed  by  its  own  kings. 
But  the  kings  were  weak,  and  foolishly  trusted 
in  the  power  of  Egypt  to  help  them  against  Baby- 
lon. This  confidence  Jeremiah  stoutly  opposed. 
The  prophet  was  put  in  the  stocks,  and  in  prison, 
and  his  life  was  constantly  in  peril  from  those  who 
would  make  friends  with  Egypt.  At  last,  Jehoi- 
akim,  king  of  Judah,  rebelled  against  Babylon, 
and  Nebuchadnezzar  came  and  took  Jerusalem, 
and  carried  away  into  exile  in  Babylonia  the  chief 
citizens  and  chief  soldiers  of  the  land. 

Even  after  that,  Jerusalem  under  Zedekiah 
rebelled  again,  still  trusting  in  the  strength  of 
Egypt.  This  time  Nebuchadnezzar  destroyed 
the  city.  He  stripped  the  temple  and  the  palace 
of  all  the  treasures  which  remained.  He  broke 
down  the  walls  and  houses.    The  king^s  sons  he 

147 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  KINGS 

killed  before  his  eyes,  then  blinded  him  and  carried 
him  to  Babylon.  With  him  he  led  into  exile  most 
of  the  remaining  people  of  Judah.  Some  fled  to 
Egypt ;  some  were  hidden  in  the  farms  and  forests ; 
some  were  too  insignificant  to  take  away.  But 
the  nation  was  removed  out  of  its  place.  The 
exiles  of  Judah  were  settled  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Babylon. 

Thus  the  kingdom  of  Judah  was  destroyed;  the 
date  is  586.  The  reign  of  Rehoboam,  in  whose 
time  occurred  the  Revolution;  the  excellent 
reigns  of  Asa  and  Jehoshaphat,  who  followed  him ; 
the  reign  of  Athaliah  the  usurper;  the  long  peace 
in  the  days  of  Uzziah;  the  reign  of  Ahaz,  who 
saw  the  Assyrians  destroy  the  kingdom  of  Israel, 
and  of  Hezekiah,  who  saw  the  Assyrians  at  the 
gates  of  Jerusalem;  the  heathern  reaction  under 
Manasseh;  the  reformation  under  Josiah;  and  the 
fall  of  Jerusalem  at  the  hands  of  the  Chaldeans 
are  the  chief  chapters  of  its  history. 


148 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  FOREIGN  RULERS 

Ezra,  Nehemiah 

1.  The  Persians,  under  Cyrus,  overthrow  the  Baby- 

lonians (539) 

(1)  The  return  from  exile,  Ezra  1,  2 

(2)  The  restoration  of  the  temple  (516)  3-6 

Opposition  of  Samaritans,  4. 

(3)  The  mission  of  Ezra 

The  re-enactment  of  the  law,  Nehemiah 

8,9 
Separation  from  Gentiles,  Ezra  7-10 

(4)  The  mission  of  Nehemiah 

The  rebuilding  of  the  walls,  Nehemiah 

1-7 
Opposition  of  Samaritans,  4,  6. 
Separation  from  Gentiles,  13. 

2.  The   Greeks,   under   Alexander,   overthrow   the 

Persians  (332) 

Esther 

1.  The  king  choses  Esther,  1,  2. 

2.  Haman  against  Mordecai  and  the  Jews,  3. 

3.  Esther  and  Mordecai  against  Haman,  5-9 

(1)  Haman  is  hanged 

(2)  The  Jews  kill  the  Persians 

npHE  kingdom  of  Israel  perished  at  the  fall  of 

Samaria,  and  was  no  more  heard  of.    The 

people  who  were  carried  into  exile  became  Assy- 

149 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  FOREIGN  RULERS 

rians;  the  people  who  were  left  in  the  land  became 
Samaritans. 

The  kingdom  of  Judah  perished  at  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem,  and  never  regained  its  place  as  an  in- 
dependent nation.  But  the  Jews  who  were  carried 
into  exile  by  the  Chaldeans  were  settled  in  one 
place,  and  kept  their  old  customs  and  religion. 
They  ceased  to  be  a  kingdom,  but  they  became  a 
church.  From  that  time  on  they  were  under 
foreign  rulers:  Chaldeans,  Persians,  Greeks  and 
Romans;    but  they  had  their  own  priests. 

The  change  from  the  kingdom  of  Judah  to  the 
Jewish  Church  was  made  during  the  exile,  under 
the  leadership  of  Ezekiel.  He  was  one  of  the  very 
great  men  of  the  Bible  history.  Abraham  was  the 
father  of  the  Hebrew  race;  Moses,  delivering  the 
people  from  slavery,  made  them  a  nation;  under 
the  guidance  of  Samuel,  they  became  a  kingdom; 
under  the  guidance  of  Ezekiel,  they  became  a 
church. 

The  great  desire  of  Ezekiel,  and  of  those  who 
worked  with  him  was  to  keep  the  Jews  separate 
from  the  Chaldeans.  They  were  not  to  partake 
in  the  life  of  their  masters,  but  were  to  live  their 
own  life,  keeping  their  own  laws.  The  temple  was 
indeed  destroyed,  and  the  sacrifices  had  therefore 

150 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  FOREIGN  RULERS 

ceased;  but  even  these  they  hoped  to  offer  again, 
in  a  restored  temple,  when  they  should  return  to 
their  own  land.  Meanwhile,  there  were  many 
customs  to  be  still  observed.  The  Sabbath  was  to 
be  kept.  The  distinction  between  what  was  holy 
and  unholy,  or  clean  and  unclean,  in  food  was 
still  to  be  carefully  made.  This  was  one  of  the 
most  important  rules  because  it  kept  the  Jews 
apart  from  the  Chaldeans;  they  could  not  eat 
what  the  Chaldeans  ate,  they  could  not  join  them 
at  their  meals. 

In  order,  then,  to  remember  just  how  the  sacri- 
fices had  been  offered  in  the  temple,  so  that  they 
might  be  offered  in  the  old  way  when  the  deliver- 
ance should  come,  they  wrote  down  careful 
directions,  describing  these  services.  And  in  order 
to  secure  the  keeping  of  the  laws  about  the  Sab- 
bath, and  about  the  clean  and  the  unclean,  they 
wrote  these  also.  Some  of  these  directions  and 
laws  were  very  old,  going  back  into  the  days  of 
Moses;  some  had  been  added  as  the  need  had 
arisen  since.  The  book  which  was  thus  written 
was  in  great  part  that  which  we  now  call  Leviticus. 

Thus  the  law  which  Moses  gave  at  Sinai  had 
grown  into  two  books :  Deuteronomy,  containing 
laws  relating  for  the  most  part  to  the  conduct  of 

151 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  FOREIGN  RULERS 

daily  life,  and  Leviticus,  containing  laws  relating 
for  the  most  part  to  the  conduct  of  the  services  and 
customs  of  religion. 

After  the  Jews  had  lived  for  fifty  years  in  exile, 
a  great  change  took  place  in  the  affairs  of  that  part 
of  the  world.  The  Chaldeans  who  had  conquered 
the  Assyrians,  were  in  their  turn  conquered  by  the 
Persians.  Cyrus  the  Persian  captured  Babylon. 
The  result  of  this  change  was  the  deliverance  of 
the  Jews. 

Back  they  went  as  many  as  desired,  to  their 
own  land.  They  had  a  prince  named  Zerubbabel, 
and  a  priest  named  Joshua.  But  their  king  was 
Cyrus;  and  after  Cyrus,  Darius.  That  is,  their 
land  and  they  themselves  were  under  the  rule  of 
the  Persians.  Thus  they  settled  in  their  ruined 
cities,  and  tried  to  make  themselves  once  more  a 
people.  But  they  were  poor,  and  easily  dis- 
couraged. Moreover,  the  Samaritans  came  and 
troubled  them,  and  for  a  time  the  work  of  rebuild- 
ing Jerusalem  was  stopped.  Two  prophets,  how- 
ever, Haggai  and  Zechariah,  urged  the  people,  and 
at  last  the  new  temple,  on  the  ruins  of  the  old, 
was  finished. 

Between  the  sixth  and  seventh  chapters  of  the 
book  of  Ezra  is  a  space  of  sixty  years.    Nothing  is 

152 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  FOREIGN  RULERS 

told  us  of  the  history  of  the  Jews  during  that  time, 
but  such  important  events  were  taking  place  in 
Greece  and  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  that  it  is 
well  to  refer  to  them  for  a  moment  that  we  may 
see  where  we  are  in  general  history.  This  fifth 
century  before  Christ  was  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able of  all  centuries.  In  this  century,  Aeschylus 
and  Sophocles  and  Euripides  were  writing  their 
plays,  Herodotus  and  Thucydides  were  writing 
their  histories;  Socrates  was  teaching  his  philo- 
sophy, with  Plato  as  one  of  his  pupils;  Leonidas 
and  his  Spartans  defended  the  pass  of  Thermop- 
ylae against  the  Persians.  Also,  Confucius  was 
teaching  in  China,  and  Gautama  was  founding 
the  religion  of  Buddha  in  India. 

In  this  period  is  laid  the  scene  of  the  story  of 
Esther.  She  wa^_jLiIemsh..girLwho  became  queen 
^ofTPersia.  The  king,  whose  name  in  Hebrew  was 
Ahasuerus,  was  the  Xerxes  who  led  his  great  army 
against  Greece,  and  fought  at  Thermopylae  and 
was  decisively  defeated  at  Salamis.  One  of  the 
courtiers  of  Alia^erus_i__named^^^  was  the 

bitter  enemy  of  another  courtier,  a  Jew  and  uncle 
of  Esther,  named  Mordecai.    Haman  made  a  plot- 
to  kill  Mordecai,  and  to  naassacre  the  Jews,,  but, 
Esther  discovered  it,  and  Hanian  wa-s  ha^gedJon 

153 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  FOREIGN  RULERS 

the  gallows  JHdii<5fe-be  had  bttilt  for  his  enemy. 
Then  for  several  days,  the  Jews  were  permitted 
to  kill  as  many  Persians  as  they  pleased;  and 
Esther  got  the  time  extended,  so  that  they  might 
kill  more.  The  story  is  so  improbable,  and  so 
filled  with  the  spirit  of  hatred,  and  so  lacking  in  re- 
ligion, not  once  mentioning  the  name  of  God,  that 
it  was  only  after  long  debate  and  grave  doubt 
that  it  was  bound  up  with  the  books  of  the  Bible. 

In  the  second  half  of  this  great  century  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah  were  counsellors  and  leaders  of  the 
Jews.  Ezra,  the  scribe,  brought  the  law  with  him 
from  the  land  of  exile*  The  reference  is  probably 
to  the  first  five  books  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Nehemiah,  the  statesman,  who  had  been  the  cup- 
bearer of  Artaxerxes,  king  of  Persia,  succeeded 
at  last  in  rebuilding  the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  The 
prophet  of  this  period  was  Malachi. 

Here  the  Old  Testament  history  comes  to  an 
end.  The  Persians  were  afterwards  conquered  by 
the  Greeks  under  Alexander,  who  thus  became  the 
masters  of  the  Jews.  Some  of  Alexander's  generals 
called  the  Seleucids,  settled  in  Syria,  north  of 
Judea.  Others,  called  the  Ptolemies,  settled  in 
the  south,  in  Egypt.  The  Jews  had  a  sad  time 
between  them.     One  of  the  Ptolemies,  named 

154 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  FOREIGN  RULERS 

Antiochus  Epiphanes,  tried  to  destroy  the  temple 
and  the  reUgion  of  the  Jews.  Against  him  rose  up 
brave  Judas  Maccabeus  and  drove  him  away,  and 
for  a  little  while  the  land  was  independent.  Final- 
ly, the  Greeks  were  conquered  by  the  Romans. 
They  were  the  rulers  of  the  Jews  when  Christ  was 
born. 


155 


THE  NEW  HISTORY 

1.  The  First  Book  of  Chronicles 

(1)  Adam  to  Samuel,  1-9 

parallel  with  Genesis  to  Judges 

(2)  Saul,  10,  and  David,  11-29 

parallel  with  Samuel. 

2.  The  Second  Book  of  Chronicles 

(1)  Solomon,  1-9 

(2)  Kings  of  Judah,  10-36 

parallel  with  Kings. 

IV/rANY  of  the  events  which  we  have  been  review- 
ing in  these  chapters  are  described  in  the 
Bible  twice.  The  first  book  of  Chronicles  goes  over 
the  same  ground  as  the  books  of  Samuel,  and  the 
second  book  of  Chronicles  goes  over  the  same 
ground  as  the  books  of  Kings. 

Look  at  II  Samuel  5,  beginning  at  the  seven- 
teenth verse,  and  then  at  I  Chronicles  14,  begin- 
ning at  the  eighth  verse.  Two  battles  of  David 
with  the  Philistines  are  described  in  almost  the 
same  words.  The  next  chapter  of  Samuel  gives 
an  account  of  the  bringing  of  the  ark  to  Jerusalem ; 
so  also  do  the  next  chapters  of  Chronicles.  Now 
however,  the  Chronicles  make  many  additions. 

156 


THE  NEW  HISTORY 

Where  the  record  in  Samuel  occupies  one  chapter, 
the  record  in  Chronicles  occupies  two.  The 
Chronicles  give  the  names  of  the  men  who  carried 
the  ark,  and  of  the  men  who  played  on  instruments 
of  music  and  sang,  and  report  the  words  of  the 
psalm  in  which  David  thanked  God  that  day. 

Sometimes  the  Chronicles  leave  out  chapters 
which  are  found  in  Samuel.  Look  at  the  end  of 
the  tenth  chapter  of  II  Samuel;  the  last  words  are 
"So  the  Syrians  feared  to  help  the  children  of 
Ammon  any  more.'^  The  nineteenth  chapter  of 
I  Chronicles  ends  in  the  same  way;  ''Neither 
would  the  Syrians  help  the  children  of  Ammon 
any  more.'^  Up  to  this  point,  the  two  histories 
have  been  going  over  the  same  road,  saying  the 
same  things.  But  now  the  writer  of  Samuel  begins 
to  tell  about  the  sins  of  David,  the  story  of  Bath- 
sheba  and  the  story  of  Absolom.  Then  he  comes 
to  an  account  of  the  taking  of  a  census.  He  says, 
"The  anger  of  the  Lord  was  kindled  against  Israel, 
and  he  moved  David  against  them  to  say,  'Go, 
number  Israel  and  Judah.^''  The  writer  of  the 
Chronicles  has  not  a  word  about  the  sins  of  David; 
he  omits  the  story  of  Bathsheba  and  the  story  of 
Absolom.  After  speaking  of  the  Syrians  and  the 
children  of  Ammon,  he  has  a  little  chapter  about 

157 


THE  NEW  HISTORY 

the  king  of  Amnion's  crown.  Then  he  says, 
"And  Satan  stood  up  against  Israel  and  provoked 
David  to  number  Israel/'  Here  the  two  histories 
come  together  again.  Also,  the  Chronicles  leave 
out  all  the  stories  of  Elijah  and  Elisha. 

There  are  accordingly  in  the  Old  Testament  two 
series  of  histories.  The  first  begins  with  Genesis 
and  ends  with  II  Kings.  It  gives  an  account  of 
events  from  the  creation  of  the  world  and  man  to 
the  exile  of  the  Jewish  people.  The  second  begins 
with  I  Chronicles  and  ends  with  Nehemiah.  It 
gives  an  account  of  events  from  the  creation  of 
Adam  to  the  return  of  the  Jewish  people  from  their 
exile,  and  their  rebuilding  of  the  holy  temple  and 
the  holy  city. 

The  first  series  of  histories  was  composed,  as  we 
have  seen,  of  many  ancient  materials,  the  me- 
mories and  records  of  the  people.  It  must  have 
been  completed  before  536,  because  it  makes  no 
mention  of  Cyrus,  who  in  that  year  having  cap- 
tured Babylon,  permitted  the  Jews  to  return. 
When  the  last  writer  of  that  series  of  histories  laid 
down  his  pen,  there  was  no  sign  that  the  exile 
might  soon  be  ended.  Cyrus,  the  deliverer,  had 
not  been  heard  of. 

The  second  series  of  histories  was  composed 

158 


THE  NEW  HISTORY 

largely  of  materials  taken  from  the  first,  but  it 
carried  the  record  further.  It  must  have  been 
composed  after  332,  because  it  mentions  Jaddua, 
who  was  high  priest  that  year.  Thus  the  second 
series  was  written  more  than  two  hundred  years 
after  the  first. 

The  writer  of  the  new  history  lived  in  Jerusalem, 
and  the  kingdom  of  Judah  had  become  the  Jewish 
Church.  He  had  no  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  which  he  considered  a  rebellious 
nation.  He  felt  that  the  only  history  which  the 
people  needed  to  know  was  the  history  of  the 
kingdom  of  Judah.  Thus  he  paid  no  more  atten- 
tion to  the  events  which  took  place  in  Israel  than 
an  historian  of  England  might  pay  to  events  which 
took  place,  after  the  Revolution,  in  America.  The 
new  history  is  a  history  of  Judah. 

Also,  since  Judah  was  in  his  time  a  church  rather 
than  a  kingdom,  the  new  historian  was  mainly 
interested  in  church  matters,  in  accounts  of  ser- 
vices, and  in  the  temple.  This  is  why  he  describes 
at  such  length  the  ceremonies  of  the  bringing  up  of 
the  ark.   The  new  history  is  a  history  of  the  church. 

Thus  we  have  these  two  series  of  books  on  the 
same  subject.  They  both  describe  the  fortunes 
and  misfortunes  of  the  Israelites.    We  see  Abra- 

159 


THE  NEW  HISTORY 

ham,  coming  from  beyond  the  Euphrates  and 
settling  in  Palestine;  and  Joseph,  establishing  the 
family  in  Egypt;  and  Moses  bringing  the  people 
out  from  bondage  there,  giving  them  laws  at 
Sinai  and  training  them  in  the  wilderness;  and 
Joshua,  leading  them  to  the  conquest  of  the  land 
in  which  Abraham  had  settled;  and  Barak  and 
Gideon  and  Jephthah  and  Samson  fighting  their 
battles;  and  Samuel  making  Saul  their  king,  and 
after  him  David  and  Solomon;  then  the  kingdom 
divided;  the  kingdom  of  Israel  ruled  by  Jeroboam, 
Ahab,  Jehu  and  Jeroboam  II,  till  its  destruction 
by  the  Assyrians;  the  kingdom  of  Judah  ruled  by 
Rehoboam,  Asa,  Jehoshophat,  by  Athaliah  and 
Uzziah,  by  Ahaz,  Hezekiah,  Manasseh  and  Josiah, 
till  its  destruction  by  the  Babylonians;  then  the 
exile  of  Judah  and  their  return  to  Jerusalem,  and 
the  rebuilding  of  the  city  and  the  walls. 

Sometimes  the  histories  agree;  sometimes  they 
disagree,  and  we  must  decide  between  them. 
One  series  is  interested  in  the  people,  the  other  is 
interested  in  the  church.  But  they  both  declare 
again  and  again  the  justice  and  the  love  of  God, 
and  they  both  say,  and  prove  it  by  events,  that 
the  duty  and  prosperity  of  man  consist  in  keeping 
God^s  commandments. 

160 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 
THE  BOOKS  OF  WISDOM 


THE  BOOKS  OF  WISDOM 

1.  Proverbs 

(1)  The  praise  of  wisdom^  1-9 

(2)  The  three  collections 

a.  The  proverbs  of  Solomon,  10-22:16 
h.  The  proverbs  of  the  Sages,  22:17-24 
c.  The  proverbs  of  Hezekiah,  25-29 

(3)  The  three  additions 

a.  The  words  of  Agur,  30 

6.  The  words  of  Lemuel,  31  :l-9 

c.  The  good  housewife,  31 :  10-31 

2.  Job 

(1)  Prologue  (prose) 

Two  celestial  councils  1,  2 

(2)  Poem 

a.  The  complaint  of  Job,  3 
6.  First  cycle  of  speeches,  4-14 

c.  Second  cycle  of  speeches,  15-21 

d.  Third  cycle  of  speeches,  22-28 

e.  The  conclusion  of  Job,  29-31 
/.  EUhu  speaks,  32-37 

g.  God  speaks,  38-41 

(3)  Epilogue  (prose) 

Job  commended,  friends  condemned,  42 

3.  Ecclesiastes 

(1)  Prologue;  the  fact,— "All  is  vanity," 
1:1-11 

163 


THE  BOOKS  OF  WISDOM 

3.  Ecclesiastes  (Continued) 

(2)  The  seven  sayings  1:12-2:26 

a.  Vanity 
6.  Time,  3 

c.  Profit,  4,  5 

d.  Wealth,  6:1-7:18 

e.  Wisdom,  7:19-9:10 
/.  Chance,  9:11-11:6 

g.  Mortality,  11:7-12:7 

(3)  Epilogue;  the  duty,— "Fear  God," 

12:8-14. 

^T^HE  next  five  books  of  the  Bible  are  in  poetry. 
Three  of  these — ^Proverbs,  Job  and  Ecclesi- 
astes— are  books  of  Wisdom. 

There  is  a  kind  of  study  which  concerns  itself 
with  knowledge,  and  tries  to  learn  about  the  stars 
and  the  hills,  and  plants  and  animals:  this  is 
called  Science.  There  is  a  kind  of  study  which 
concerns  itself  with  thought,  and  tries  to  learn 
about  the  working  of  the  mind:  this  is  called 
Philosophy.  Thus  science  deals  with  the  world 
outside  of  us,  and  philosophy  deals  with  the  world 
within  us.  There  is  another  kind  of  study  which 
concerns  itself  with  conduct,  and  tries  to  learn 
from  experience  and  observation  the  difference 
between  right  and  wrong,  and  what  we  ought  to 
do  and  not  to  do:  this  is  what  is  meant  in  the 
Bible  by  Wisdom 

164 


THE  BOOKS  OF  WISDOM 

Thus  the  Proverbs  are  sentences  of  good  advice. 
They  tell  us  that  wisdom  consists  in  honesty  and 
truth  and  justice  and  righteousness.  If  we  are 
truly  wise  we  will  love  our  friends  and  be  faithful  to 
them;  and  we  will  save  our  money. 

The  book  begins  with  the  Praise  of  Wisdom,  in 
nine  chapters.  Side  by  side  stand  the  House  of 
Wisdom  and  the  House  of  Folly;  and  Wisdom  and 
Folly  sit  by  their  doors  and  invite  people  to  come 
in. 

Then  there  are  three  collections  of  wise  words: 
the  Proverbs  of  Solomon,  beginning  with  chapter 
ten;  the  Proverbs  of  the  Sages,  beginning  with 
verse  seventeen  in  chapter  twenty-one, — "Bow 
down  thine  ear,  and  hear  the  words  of  the  wise^'; 
and  the  Proverbs  of  Hezekiah,  beginning  with 
chapter  twenty-five. 

To  these  there  are  three  short  additions:  the 
Words  of  Agar,  in  chapter  thirty;  the  Words  of 
Lemuel  and  the  description  of  the  Good  House- 
wife, in  chapter  thirty-one.  The  Proverbs  say, 
over  and  over,  that  it  is  foolish  to  tell  lies,  to  take 
what  does  not  belong  to  us,  to  spend  more  than  we 
can  afford,  or  to  go  with  bad  companions,  for  all 
these  things  are  like  paths  which  lead  to  unhap- 
piness  and  destruction. 

165 


THE  BOOKS  OF  WISDOM 

But  suppose  that  a  wise  man,  in  spite  of  all  his 
wisdom,  falls  into  great  trouble.  What  shall  he 
say  and  do  then?  He  keeps  the  commandments, 
and  does  no  wrong  thing,  yet  failure  and  pain 
come  upon  him.  A  common  answer  was  to  say 
that  pain  and  failure  always  mean  wrong-doing. 
If  a  man  loses  his  money,  or  falls  sick  with  some 
grievous  disease,  God  is  punishing  him  for  some 
sin.  The  man  must  discover  his  sin  and  confess  it, 
and  stop  it. 

This  answer  did  not  satisfy  the  writer  of  the 
book  of  Job.  He  saw  that  evil  comes  even  to  good 
men.  He  took,  accordingly,  for  his  hero  a  per- 
fectly good  man,  named  Job.  He  pictured  a 
scene  in  Heaven,  where  God  sat  on  His  throne 
listening  to  the  report  which  one  of  His  angels, 
named  Satan,  brought  back  from  a  journey  which 
he  had  been  taking  in  the  earth.  Satan  said  that 
the  best  man  whom  he  had  found  was  Job,  but 
he  suggested  that  Job  was  good  only  for  the  sake 
of  the  blessings  of  God;  if  he  were  deprived  of 
those  blessings  he  would  be  as  bad  as  anybody  else. 
God  gave  Satan  leave  to  try  the  experiment,  and 
thus  all  manner  of  ills  fell  upon  poor  Job.  His 
property  was  destroyed,  his  sons  and  daughters  died, 
and  he  himself  was  stricken  with  a  painful  sickness. 

166 


THE  BOOKS  OF  WISDOM 

Thus  the  story  begins.  Job  is  found  groaning 
in  his  distress.  Three  friends  come  to  see  him. 
They  beheve,  like  most  people,  that  Job  has  done 
some  dreadful  wrong,  for  which  God  is  punishing 
him.  And  they  tell  him  so.  But  Job  declares  that 
he  is  innocent.  First  speaks  Eliphaz  the  Temanite, 
and  Job  answers;  then  Bildad  the  Shuhite,  and 
Job  answers;  then  Zophar  the  Naamathite,  and 
Job  answers.  This  is  done  three  times.  After 
that  comes  Elihu,  another  friend,  and  reproves 
Job  for  saying  that  God  is  dealing  unjustly  with 
him.  Finally,  God  Himself  speaks  from  the  clouds, 
reproving  Job^s  friends  and  praising  the  constancy 
of  Job.  Then  Job's  possessions  are  restored  to 
him  seven  times  as  many  as  he  had  before,  and  he 
lives  happily  ever  after. 

Thus  the  book  of  Job  not  only  contradicts  the 
notion  that  pain  must  mean  the  sin  of  man  and 
the  anger  of  God,  but  shows  how  a  wise  man  con- 
ducts himself  in  the  midst  of  affliction:  Job  says 
of  God,  "Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in 
Him.'^ 

The  third  book  of  wisdom,  Ecclesiastes,  deals 
with  a  very  different  situation.  Job  shows  the 
behavior  of  a  wise  man  in  adversity,  Ecclesiastes 
shows  the  behavior  of  a  wise  man  in  prosperity. 

167 


THE  BOOKS  OF  WISDOM 

The  hero  of  the  book  is  Solomon,  who  was  re- 
membered as  both  the  wisest  and  the  richest  of 
men.  He  is  represented  in  his  old  age,  as  casting 
aside  the  cares  of  state  and  considering  the  worth 
of  all  his  power  and  wealth.  He  says  that  it  is 
all  worth  nothing.  "Vanity  of  vanities,  all  is 
vanity." 

Sometimes  the  emptiness  of  all  earthly  things 
filled  him  with  sadness,  especially  when  he  thought 
how  soon  our  life  comes  to  an  end.  The  great 
truth  of  the  life  to  come  was  very  dim  in  the  days 
of  the  Old  Testament.  People  seldom  thought 
about  it;  at  least,  they  seldom  wrote  about  it. 
When  they  did  speak  of  another  world  they  repre- 
sented it,  as  in  the  Psalms,  as  a  dark  and  shadowy 
place,  "where  all  things  are  forgotten."  The 
writer  of  Ecclesiastes  refused  to  consider  it  at  all. 
A  new  hope  of  immortality  was  coming  into  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  but  he  would  not  share  it. 
"That  which  befalleth  the  sons  of  men,"  he  said, 
"befalleth  beasts;  even  one  thing  befalleth  them; 
as  the  one  dieth,  so  dieth  the  other;  yea,  they  all 
have  one  breath;  so  that  a  man  hath  no  pre- 
eminence above  a  beast;  for  all  is  vanity." 

But  sometimes  the  emptiness  of  all  things 
earthly  filled  him  with  courage.    He  resolved  to 

168 


THE  BOOKS  OF  WISDOM  i 


make  the  most  of  such  Ufe  as  he  had.  He  would 
enjoy  his  work;  he  would  do  his  best.  Even  at 
death  the  spirit  of  man  returns  to  God  who  gave 
it.  In  the  meantime,  "Fear  God  and  keep  his 
commandments:    for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of 


man." 


169 


THE  BOOK  OF  PSALMS  AND  THE  BOOK 
OF  SONGS 

1.  The  Psalms 

1.  Personal  psalms 

First  book,  1-41. 

2.  National  psalms 

Second  book,  42-72. 
Third  book,  73-89. 

3.  Liturgical  psalms 

Fourth  book,  90-106. 
Fifth  book,  107-150. 

2.  The  Song  of  Solomon 

1.  The  Camp:    The  Lily  among  Thorns,  1:2- 

2:7. 

2.  The  Camp:    The  Dove  in  the  Clefts  of  the 

Rock  2:8-3:5. 

3.  The  Court:  The  Garden  of  Spices  3:6-5:8. 

4.  The  Court:    The  Chief  est  among  Ten 

Thousand,  5:9-8:4. 

5.  The  Village:    Love  is  Strong  as  Death,  8 :5- 

14. 

T  IKE  most  good  people,  the  Old  Testament  men 
and  women, — and,  no  doubt,  the  Old  Testa- 
ment boys  and  girls, — loved  to  sing.  When  Moses 
had  brought  them  safely  over  the  Red  Sea,  immedi- 
ately his  sister  Miriam  set  them  to  singing:    '^I 

170 


THE  BOOK  OF  PSALMS 

will  sing  into  the  Lord,  for  He  hath  triumphed 
gloriously.'^  So  sang  Deborah  and  Barak  after 
they  had  defeated  Sisera:  ^'Praise  ye  the  Lord 
for  the  avenging  of  Israel."  So  sang  David  in 
grief  over  the  death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan:  ''The 
beauty  of  Israel  is  slain  upon  the  high  places :  How 
are  the  mighty  fallen ! ''  There  was  singing  also  on 
the  day  when  the  ark  was  brought  by  David  to 
Jerusalem,  with  music  of  harps  and  psalteries  and 
timbrels  and  cornets  and  cymbals.  And  when  the 
ark  was  set  in  its  place,  and  especially  after  the 
temple  was  built,  the  worship  of  God  was  expressed 
in  sacred  songs. 

These  songs  were  called  psalms.  They  began  to 
be  written  in  the  days  of  David,  a  thousand  years 
before  Christ,  and  the  name  of  David  is  attached 
to  many  of  them,  as  the  name  of  Moses  is  attached 
to  the  laws,  and  the  name  of  Solomon  to  the  pro- 
verbs. Thus  a  forest  may  bear  the  name  of  the 
man  who  set  out  the  first  trees. 

Century  by  century,  as  the  kingdom  of  Judah 
grew,  and  great  events  claimed  commemoration 
of  joy  or  of  sorrow,  new  psalms  were  added.  The 
book  of  psalms  was  enriched,  like  books  of  hymns. 
Thus  the  one-hundred-and-thirty-seventh  psalm 
was  written  in  the  days  of  the  exile:     ''By  the 

171 


THE  BOOK  OF  PSALMS 

rivers  of  Babylon,  there  we  sat  down,  yea,  we 
wept,  when  we  remembered  Zion/'  And  the 
seventy-fourth  psalm  was  written  in  the  days  of 
the  Maccabees:  ^'0  God,  why  hast  thou  cast  us 
off  forever?  They  break  down  the  carved  work 
with  axes  and  hammers.'^  That  was  in  the  second 
century  before  Christ.  Thus  it  took  more  than 
eight  hundred  years  to  write  the  psalms. 

The  book  as  it  stands  completed  in  the  Bible 
contains  five  collections,  each  ending  with  a  verse 
of  praise. 

The  first  collection  is  made  up  mostly  of  personal 
psalms.  In  them  the  writer  expresses  his  own 
faith  and  thanksgiving,  and  prays  for  his  own 
needs.  The  last  psalm,  the  forty-first,  ends  with 
the  words:  '^Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel 
from  everlasting  and  to  everlasting.  Amen  and 
Amen.'^ 

The  second  and  third  collections  are  made  up 
mostly  of  national  psalms.  They  commemorate 
the  blessings  of  God  to  the  people  in  general,  and 
pray  for  the  prosperity  of  the  nation.  The  second 
book  closes  at  the  end  of  the  seventy-second  psalm 
with  the  words:  *' Blessed  be  the  Lord  God,  the 
God  of  Israel,  who  only  doeth  wondrous  things. 
And  blessed  be  His  glorious  name  forever,  and  let 

172 


THE  BOOK  OF  PSALMS 

the  whole  earth  be  filled  with  His  glory;  Amen 
and  Amen.  The  prayers  of  David  the  son  of  Jesse 
are  ended/'  And  the  third  book  closes  at  the  end 
of  the  eighty-ninth  psalm  with  the  words,  '^  Blessed 
be  the  Lord  forever  more,  Amen  and  Amen/'    ■    j 

The  fourth  and  fifth  collections  are  made  up 
mostly  of  liturgical  psalms.  They  were  written 
for  use  in  the  services  of  the  temple.  The  one- 
hundred-and-sixth  psalm,  at  the  close  of  the  fourth 
book,  ends,  '^Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel 
from  everlasting  to  everlasting;  and  let  all  the 
people  say  Amen.  Praise  ye  the  Lord."  And  the 
one-hundred-and-fiftieth  psalm,  at  the  close  of  the 
whole  book  is  itself  a  splendid  doxology. 

The  one-hundred-and-nineteenth  psalm,  the 
longest  of  all,  is  an  alphabet  poem.  The  first  eight 
verses  begin  each  with  the  first  letter  of  the  Hebrew 
alphabet,  and  the  next  eight  with  the  second,  and 
so  on.  This,  of  course,  does  not  appear  in  English; 
but  even  in  English  one  can  see  that  every  verse 
contains  some  word  which  means  the  law, — 
statutes,  commandments,  judgments,  testimonies. 
Thus  the  whole  psalm  is  in  praise  of  the  law  of  God. 

The  short  psalms  from  the  one-hundred-and- 
twentieth  to  the  one-hundred-and-thirty-fourth 
are  called  pilgrim  psalms,  because  they  were  sung 

173 


THE  BOOK  OF  PSALMS 

on  the  way  to  Jerusalem  when  the  people  came  to 
the  Passover,  and  the  other  feasts.  "I  will  lift  up 
mine  eyes  unto  the  hills/'  they  sang,  as  they  came 
in  sight  of  the  hills  on  which  the  Holy  City  stood. 

The  twenty-second  is  a  passion  psalm,  whose 
first  words  our  Lord  recited  on  the  cross.  The 
twenty-third  is  the  shepherd  psalm.  The  twenty- 
ninth  is  about  a  thunder  storm,  the  fifty-first  is  a 
penitential  psalm  of  great  sorrow  after  sin.  The 
fifty-eighth  is  an  imprecatory  psalm,  calling  down 
the  curse  of  God  on  enemies;  it  shows  that  there 
were  great  truths  of  religion  which  the  psalmists 
had  not  learned,  which  we  have  been  taught  b}^ 
Him  who  said  ^'  Love  your  enemies.''  Such  psalms 
are  like  mile  stones,  to  which  we  look  back  to  see 
how  far  we  have  come.  The  sixty-ninth  is  a  war 
psalm.  The  psalms  from  the  ninty-fifth  to  the 
hundredth  (the  ^'old  hundredth,")  are  said  to  have 
been  sung  when  the  temple  was  rebuilt  and  dedi- 
cated, after  the  exile.  The  one-hundred-and- 
fourth  is  a  nature  psalm,  like  the  one-hundred- 
and-forty-eighth. 

Very  different  from  the  Books  of  Psalms  is  the 
Book  of  Songs.  This  is  called  the  Song  of  Solomon, 
and  is  a  collection  of  poems  not  of  religion  but  of 
love.    It  is  like  Esther  in  being  a  book  of  the  Bible 

174 


THE  BOOK  OF  SONGS 

in  which  the  interest  is  not  in  reUgion.  And,  like 
Esther,  it  was  taken  into  the  Bible  only  after  long 
discussion.  Some  said  that  these  two  were  good 
books  and  should  be  given  to  all  people  to  read ;  some 
said  that  they  were  of  no  value  for  the  soul,  and 
were  of  no  help  in  living  a  good  life,  and  that  they 
did  not  belong  in  such  a  collection  of  spiritual  and 
moral  writings  as  the  Bible.  Finally,  they  were 
admitted. 

The  story  of  the  Song  of  Solomon  is  not  easy  to 
follow,  but  it  seems  to  tell  of  a  peasant  girl  of 
Shunem  whom  Solomon  brings  from  her  village 
home  to  his  court  in  Jerusalem.  She  has  a  lover, 
a  peasant  like  herself,  and  is  true  to  him  in  spite 
of  all  the  wealth  and  pleasure  of  the  court.  At  last, 
she  is  permitted  to  go  back  to  him.  Into  the 
framework  of  this  story  are  set  the  songs  which 
they  sing. 


175 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 
THE  PROPHETICAL  BOOKS 


AMOS,  HOSEA,  MICAH 

1.  Amos.    The  Wrath  of  God. 

(1)  A  prophecy  of  punishment  of  nations,  in*- 

eluding  Israel,  1,  2. 

(2)  Three  warning  sermons,  3-6. 

"Hear  ye  this  word,"— 3:1,  4:1,  5:1. 

(3)  Five  visions,  7-9 

The  priest  silences  the  prophet,  7:10-17. 

2.  Hosea.    The  Love  of  God. 

(1)  The  parable  of  the  prodigal  wife,  1-3 

(2)  A  collection  of  sermons. 

a.  The  guilt  of  Israel,  4-8. 

6.  The  punishment  of  God,  9,  10. 

c.  Yet  the  love  of  God,  11-14. 

3.  Micah.    The  Assyrian  Invasion. 

(1)  A  prophecy  of  punishment  of  the  rich. 

a.  An  invading  army,  1,  2. 

b.  A  peasant  saviour,  3-5. 

(2)  Added  words  of  warning,  6,  7. 

r\F  the  three  parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  the 
first  is  composed  of  books  of  history  and  the 
second  of  books  of  poetry.  We  come  now  to  books 
of  prophecy,  of  which  there  are  sixteen;  or,  with 
Lamentations  added,  seventeen.  This  is  just  the 
number  of  the  books  of  history,  of  which  there  are 

179 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY 

sixteen;  or,  with  Esther  added,  seventeen.  Of  the 
sixteen  prophecies  four  are  long,  and  twelve, — 
called  the  minor  prophets, — ^are  short. 

The  word  prophecy,  as  it  is  used  in  the  Bible, 
means  preaching.  The  prophets  often  spoke  of  the 
future  and  told  what  must  come  to  pass,  but  in 
their  minds  the  future  was  always  connected  with 
the  present.  They  declared  in  all  their  sermons 
that  God  will  surely  bless  the  righteous  and  will 
just  as  surely  punish  the  wicked.  So  when  they 
saw  the  people  doing  wrong,  they  prophesied  dis- 
aster; and  when  they  saw  the  people  sorry  for  their 
wrong-doing,  they  prophesied  prosperity.  The 
whole  interest  of  the  prophets  was  in  their  own 
time  and  their  own  land.  They  talked  to  the 
people  about  the  things  which  they  saw  with  their 
own  eyes.  In  an  age  when  there  were  no  news- 
papers, they  took  the  place  of  newspapers,  and 
their  sermons  were  like  the  editorials  of  great 
editors.  All  their  sermons  were  about  the  events 
which  were  taking  place,  and  the  questions  which 
were  being  discussed  that  very  day. 

Thus  in  order  to  understand  the  books  of  the 
prophets  we  must  understand  the  questions  and 
the  events  about  which  they  spoke.  Without  such 
knowledge  we  may  indeed  find  sentences  here  and 

180 


AMOS,  HOSEA,  MICAH 

there  which  are  everlastingly  true  and  helpful,  but 
the  books  themselves  will  seem  confused  and  diflS- 
cult,  without  meaning  or  interest. 

Taking  the  prophets,  then,  in  the  order  of  time, 
— ^which  is  a  little  different  from  the  order  in  the 
Bible — ^the  first  four  were  Amos,  Hosea,  Micah 
and  Isaiah;  three  short  and  one  long.  These  all 
belonged  to  the  second  half  of  the  eighth  century. 
In  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  where  Amos  and  Hosea 
preached,  the  reign  of  Jeroboam  II  was  coming  to 
an  end,  and  the  time  of  decline  and  disorder  was 
following.  In  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  where  Micah 
and  Isaiah  preached,  the  reign  of  Uzziah  was  end- 
ing, and  after  Uzziah  Ahaz,  and  after  Ahaz,  Heze- 
kiah,  were  the  kings.  The  tremendous  fact  of  the 
time  was  the  Assyrian  invasion.  Every  one  of 
these  four  prophets  found  the  people  doing 
wickedly,  and  saw  the  Assyrians  coming  to  punish 
them. 

Amos,  although  he  preachea  in  the  kingdom  of 
Israel,  came  from  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  having 
his  home  at  Tekoa  a  little  village  south  of 
Jerusalem.  He  was  a  herdsman,  living  in  the 
fields  with  his  flocks,  looking  out  from  his  high 
pasture  over  the  Dead  Sea,  and  getting  news  of 
the  world  from  caravans  on  their  way  to  Egypt. 

181 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY 

Thus  he  heard  how  people  Uved  in  cities,  and  how 
in  Assyria  there  was  a  new,  strong  king  planning 
the  conquest  of  the  world. 

At  last,  he  determined  to  see  for  himself.  He 
left  his  flocks,  and  went  up  past  Jerusalem  to 
Bethel.  This  was  only  a  little  more  than  twenty 
miles  from  Tekoa.  There  he  found  a  rich  city, 
where  princes  and  merchants  lived  in  great  houses, 
and  in  whose  back  streets  lived  the  hungry  poor. 
He  found  the  rich  cheating  and  oppressing  the 
poor.  He  saw  that  these  dishonest  people  had  a 
splendid  church,  with  carved  pillars  and  adorn- 
ments of  gold,  and  gorgeous  services  to  which  they 
went  with  regularity  and  devotion.  And  he  stood 
in  the  street  in  front  of  the  church,  and  lifted  up 
his  voice  and  preached.  He  declared  plainly  what 
God  thinks  of  unjust,  cruel  and  dishonest  people 
in  splendid  churches. 

Presently  the  priest  came  out  and  drove  him 
away.  '^Go  home,'^  he  said,  ^^do  not  speak  such 
words  in  this  place.  This  is  the  king's  chapel." 
Thus  Amos  was  put  to  silence.  He  went  home  anp 
wrote  this  book. 

Hosea  became  a  preacher  by  reason  of  a  bitter 
experience.  He  had  an  unfaithful  wife.  She  went 
away  and  left  him;    left  him  and   their  three 

182 


AMOS,  HOSEA,  MICAH 

children,  a  little  girl  named  Lo-ruhamah,  and  two 
little  boys  named  Jezreel  and  Lo-ammi. 

Each  of  these  names  had  a  meaning  which 
showed  how  deeply  Hosea  was  interested  in  the 
affairs  of  the  nation.  Jezreel  meant  that  God 
would  avenge  the  blood  which  Jehu  had  shed  at 
the  fortress  of  that  name,  when  he  killed  Jezebel 
and  the  two  kings.  Hosea  thus  expressed  his  con- 
viction that  the  descendant  of  Jehu  then  upon  the 
throne  should  be  the  last  king  in  the  family.  Lo- 
ruhamah  means  No-pity,  and  Lo-ammi  means 
No-people.  By  these  names  Hosea  declared  that 
God  would  have  no  pity  on  the  kingdom  of  Israel 
in  its  coming  distresses,  and  that  He  would  no 
longer  regard  them  as  His  people. 

But  Hosea  still  loved  his  unfaithful  wife.  One 
day,  as  he  passed  through  the  market-place,  he 
saw  her  there,  deserted  by  her  false  friends, 
ragged  and  hungry,  and  for  sale  as  a  slave.  He 
bought  her  and  took  her  home.  And  there  grad- 
ually a  great  new  truth  came  into  the  soul  of 
Hosea.  He  said  to  himself  "All  the  people  of  this 
kingdom  have  done  to  God  what  my  wife  did  to 
me.  They  have  gone  away  and  left  Him.  And 
they  are  coming  more  and  more  into  deep  distress, 
as  she  did.    Surely,  God  is  more  loving  than  I  am. 

183 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY 

If  I  still  love  my  wife,  God  must  still  love  His 
people/' 

Thus  Hosea  learned  a  new  truth  about  God. 
He  changed  his  boy's  names,  calling  the  one 
Ruhamah,  or  Pity,  and  the  other  Ammi,  or  People. 
Amos  had  rebuked  the  sins  of  the  people,  declaring 
that  they  would  be  punished;  for  God  is  law. 
Hosea  rebuked  the  same  sins  with  the  same 
earnestness,  but  he  said  that  though  God  might 
punish  His  people  He  would  not  forsake  them. 
If  they  would  repent  and  do  right.  He  would  pity 
them;  they  should  be  His  people  still;  for  God  is 
love. 

But  the  people  who  had  not  heeded  the  sermons 
of  Amos  did  not  heed  the  sermons  of  Hosea.  They 
went  from  bad  to  worse.  And  the  Assyrians  came, 
whom  the  prophets  had  seen  on  the  horizon. 
They  came  and  destroyed  the  kingdom  of  Israel, 
and  it  had  no  longer  a  place  among  the  nations. 

Then  the  Assyrians  turned  their  attention  to 
the  kingdom  of  Judah.  The  first  alarm  was 
sounded  by  the  prophet  Micah.  He  lived  at  the^ 
south-west  corner  of  the  upland  country  of  Judah, 
as  Amos  had  lived  at  the  south-east  corner.  The 
village  of  Moresheth  was  by  the  great  war-path, 
along  the  coast,  which  the  Assyrians  would  take 

184 


AMOS,  HOSEA,  MICAH 

if  they  went  down  to  fight  the  Egyptians,  and  at 
the  place  where  they  would  turn  aside  to  attack 
Jerusalem.  Micah  saw  in  imagination  all  the 
villages  about  him  brought  to  destruction,  all  the 
fair  country  ruined  by  the  Assyrians.  He  laid  the 
blame  on  the  wickedness  of  the  rich.  He  re- 
proached the  wealthy  landowners  of  Judah  as 
Amos  and  Hosea  had  rebuked  the  wealthy  mer- 
chants of  Israel.  "Now,"  he  cried,  "shall  they  be 
punished  who  have  oppressed  us  country  people. 
Now  shall  Jerusalem  be  brought  to  devastation." 

But  Micah,  like  Hosea,  saw  a  better  future. 
There  should  be  affliction,  as  Hosea  said,  but  after 
that  a  good  time.  "Yes,"  added  Micah,  "A  good 
time,  brought  in  by  a  good  man.  Not  from  among 
the  wealthy  and  mighty  in  Jerusalem,  but  from 
among  us  peasants — some  shepherd  like  David  at 
Bethlehem — shall  a  new  David  come  to  save  us." 

Thus  came  into  the  mind  of  the  Jews  the  ex- 
pectation of  a  great  deliverer,  whom  they  called 
Messiah.  Thereafter,  at  every  crisis  of  their  his- 
tory, where  their  lives  were  hard  and  their  foes 
were  cruel,  they  looked  for  him  to  come. 


185 


ISAIAH 

1.  Isaiah  of  Jerusalem,  1-39. 

(1)  A  collection  of  prophecies,  1-12,  concern- 

ing the  sins  of  the  people,  and  the  two  in- 
vasions. 

(2)  Concerning  foreign  nations,  13-23. 

(3)  Concerning  the  end  of  the  world,  24-27. 

(4)  A  collection  of  prophecies,  28-33,  concern- 

ing the  sins  of  the  people,  and  the  As- 
syrian invasion. 

(5)  Concerning  Edom  and  Israel,  34,  35. 

(6)  Chapters  of  history,  from  II  Kings,  36-39. 

2.  Isaiah  of  Babylon,  40-66. 

(1)  The  certainty  of  restoration,  40-48,  Cyrus 

the  deliverer. 

(2)  The  preparation  for  restoration,   48-59. 

The  Servant  of  the  Lord,  suffering  for 
the  sins  of  the  world. 

(3)  The  joy  of  restoration,  60-66. 

'T^HE  speeches  of  Micah  were  both  preceded  and 
followed  by  the  ministry  of  Isaiah.  Isaiah 
began  to  preach  before  the  crisis  which  aroused 
Micah,  and  he  continued  to  preach  after  that 
crisis  had  passed. 

In  the  year  when  King  Uzziah  died,  a  young 
nobleman  in  the  court  of  Jerusalem  had  a  vision. 

186 


ISAIAH 

He  saw  the  Lord  in  the  temple,  sitting  on  a  throne. 
In  the  light  of  this  vision  the  young  man  perceived 
that  the  men  who  sat  on  thrones  in  Jerusalem  and 
ruled  the  people  were  very  different  from  the  Lord : 
also  the  people  were  very  different  from  the  Lord's 
idea  of  what  men  and  women  ought  to  be.  The 
young  man  was  Isaiah. 

Immediately  he  began  to  do  what  he  could  to 
turn  the  people  from  their  evil  ways  and  to  get 
them  to  do  right.  He  became  a  preacher.  His 
young  wife,  too,  who  is  called  'Hhe  prophetess/' 
became  a  preacher  with  him.  Even  their  two 
little  boys  were  given  names  which  were  as  good 
as  sermons.  One  was  called  Shear-jashub;  the 
other  was  called  Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  The 
second  name  means  ^'Speedy  spoil,  hasty  prey," 
and  thus  declares  a  coming  destruction;  the  first 
name  means,  '^A  remnant  shall  return,''  and  this 
means  that  the  destruction  shall  not  destroy  the 
people  completely. 

Ahaz  followed  Uzziah  on  the  throne  of  Judah, 
and  Pekah  of  Israel  and  Rezin  of  Damascus  made 
their  appeal  to  him  to  join  them  in  resisting 
Assyria,  and  when  he  would  not,  they  marched 
down  to  compel  him.  Isaiah  assured  him  that 
Assyria  would  destroy  both  Damascus  and  Israel, 

187 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY 

and  that  he  had  no  need  to  be  afraid.  But  Ahaz 
disregarded  the  advice  of  Isaiah  and  bought  the 
help  of  Assyria.  It  was  like  a  family  of  mice  afraid 
of  another  family  of  mice,  and  hiring  the  cat  to 
help  them.  The  Assyrians  came  and  put  an  end 
to  Damascus  and  Israel,  as  Isaiah  had  said.  But 
they  kept  hold  of  Ahaz. 

Then  Hezekiah  came  to  the  throne,  and  the 
Assyrian  advance  continued.  The  taxes  which 
the  Mediterranean  provinces — ^Phoenicia,  Philistia 
and  Judah — ^had  to  pay  to  Assyria  were  a  heavy 
burden.  After  the  death  of  Sargon,  who  had 
destroyed  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  Assyria  seemed 
for  a  moment  to  have  lost  its  power.  The  king  of 
Babylon  rebelled;  the  king  of  Egypt  began  to 
make  threats  against  Assyria,  and  tried  to  stir  his 
neighbors  to  revolt.  There  was  a  strong  Egyptian 
party  in  Jerusalem  who  said,  ^'Let  us  cast  off  the 
yoke  of  Assyria,  and  rely  upon  the  strength  of 
Egypt."  This  policy  Isaiah  opposed.  For  three 
years  he  went  about  the  streets  barefooted  and 
dressed  like  a  captive,  saying  that  the  whole 
nation  would  look  like  that  if  they  sought  help 
from  the  Egyptians.  Thus  he  was  able  to  prevent 
rebellion,  for  a  time. 

At  last,  however,  the  advocates  of  revolt  pre- 

188 


ISAIAH 

vailed.  Judah  joined  with  the  neighboring 
provinces  against  Assyria.  And,  as  Isaiah  had 
predicted,  the  Egyptians  could  do  nothing.  The 
Assyrians  defeated  them  in  the  first  battle.  The 
rebellious  provinces  were  immediately  punished. 
Hezekiah  was  compelled  to  pay  to  Assyria  such 
an  amount  of  money  that  he  had  to  strip  off  the 
gold  from  the  doors  of  the  temple  to  make  it  up. 

Finally,  the  Assyrians  besieged  Jerusalem.  The 
ambassador  of  Sennacherib  demanded  its  sur- 
render. The  whole  surrounding  country  was 
desolated.  The  misery  of  the  land  is  described  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Isaiah's  book.  The  only  hope 
of  the  people  was  in  the  counsels  and  prayers  of 
Isaiah.  Then  suddenly  the  siege  was  raised,  and 
the  Assyrians  returned  to  their  own  land.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  Lord  had  reached  down  His 
mighty  arm  from  Heaven,  and  had  saved  His 
holy  city. 

These  two  invasions — of  Israel  and  Damascus 
in  the  days  of  Ahaz,  and  of  Assyria  in  the  days  of 
Hezekiah — were  the  chief  events  of  Isaiah's  minis- 
try. But  there  are  many  more  sermons  in  the  book 
than  those  which  relate  to  these  two  wars.  There 
is  a  series  of  chapters  about  foreign  nations,  and  a 
discourse  on  the  end  of  the  world. 

189 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY 

Indeed,  the  whole  latter  part  of  the  book  is  not 
only  unrelated  to  these  crises,  but  is  unconnected 
even  with  Isaiah.  At  the  fortieth  chapter,  the 
scene  and  time  are  suddenly  changed.  In  the 
chapters  ending  with  the  thirty-ninth,  the  scene 
is  Jerusalem,  the  time  is  the  eighth  century  before 
Christ,  the  world-power  which  terrifies  the  nation 
is  Assyria,  the  great  king  is  Sennacherib.  In  the 
chapters  beginning  with  the  fortieth,  the  scene  is 
Babylon,  the  time  is  the  sixth  century  before 
Christ,  the  world  power  which  threatens  the 
nations  is  Persia,  the  great  king  is  Cyrus.  In  the 
first  part  of  the  book  the  prophet  is  assuring  the 
people  that  Jerusalem  shall  not  be  destroyed. 
In  the  second  part  of  the  book,  Jerusalem  has 
been  destroyed,  and  after  lying  for  many  years  in 
ruins,  the  prophet  is  promising  that  it  shall  be 
rebuilt.  Of  course,  the  explanation  is  that  in  the 
book  which  we  call  Isaiah,  two  quite  different 
books  are  bound  together. 

In  the  sad  days  of  the  exile,  a  great  prophet  and 
poet,  who  is  called  the  Second  Isaiah  because  we 
do  not  know  his  name,  wrote  these  last  chapters 
of  encouragement  and  assurance.  The  Lord  said 
to  him,  ^^  Comfort  ye  my  people '';  and  thus  he 
comforted  them. 

190 


ZEPHANIAH,  NAHUM  AND  HABAKKUK 

1.  Zephaniah;  the  Scythian  Invasian. 

(1)  The  Day  of  the  Lord  upon  Jerusalem,  1. 

(2)  The  Day  of  the  Lord  upon  the  nations, 

2,3. 

2.  Nahum:    Before  the  Fall  of  Nineveh. 

(1)  An  Ode  of  the  Vengeance  of  the  Lord,  L 

(2)  An  Ode  of  the  Vengeance  of  the  Lord  on 

Assyria,  2,  3. 

3.  Habakkuk:  After  the  Fall  of  Nineveh. 

(1)  Dialogue:    The  Prosperity  of  the  Wicked, 

1. 

(2)  Five  songs  of  defiance,  2. 

(3)  A  psalm  of  the  Might  of  God,  3. 

A  FTER  the  preaching  of  Amos  and  Hosea,  and 
of  Micah  and  Isaiah,  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
eighth  century,  there  was  silence  for  fifty  years. 
That  was  when  Manasseh  was  king,  when  anybody 
who  dared  to  defend  the  true  religion  would  have 
had  his  head  taken  ofif. 

When  Manasseh  died,  and  the  good  Josiah  came 
to  the  throne,  and  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seventh 
century,  four  more  men  declared  the  will  of  God 
against  the  sins  of  the  people.    Thus  we  have  from 

191 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY 

that  time  three  short  books  written  by  Zephaniah, 
Nahum  and  Habakkuk,  and  one  long  book  written 
by  Jeremiah. 

Zephaniah  was  moved  to  speak  his  mind,  and 
God's  mind,  about  the  way  in  which  men  and 
women  were  living  in  Jerusalem,  by  the  approach 
of  some  great  peril.  Not  only  the  kingdom  of 
Judah,  but  lands  so  far  apart  as  Philistia  in  the 
west,  and  Assyria  in  the  east,  and  Ethiopia  in  the 
south,  were  menaced  with  invasion.  A  great  and 
terrible  enemy  was  threatening  to  destroy  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  Such  an  enemy  was  the 
army  of  the  wild  Scythians,  who  at  that  time  were 
coming  down  from  the  vast  plains  of  Russia  to 
attack  the  civilized  countries  of  Asia.  They  were 
first  of  that  vast  multitude  of  barbarians  who 
afterward,  as  Goths  and  Huns  and  Vandals,  over- 
threw the  Roman  Empire.  They  were  so  fierce, 
and  the  land  behind  them  was  left  so  desolate,  that 
their  coming  seemed  like  the  end  of  all  things. 
Zephaniah  called  it  the  Day  of  the  Lord.  He 
expected  nothing  less  than  universal  destruction; 
and  it  was  a  punishment,  he  said,  for  sin.  It  was 
a  Day  of  Judgment. 

The  Scythians  did  not  destroy  Jerusalem,  as 
Zephaniah  feared.     For  the  moment,  they  aided 

192 


ZEPHANIAH,  NAHUM,  HABAKKUK 

Jerusalem  by  weakening  the  power  of  Assyria. 
Down  they  came  on  Nineveh  from  the  north,  and 
up  came  the  rebellious  Chaldeans  from  the  south, 
and  at  last  the  city  fell.  Nineveh  was  destroyed, 
and  Babylon  became  the  capital  of  the  world. 

This  tremendous  event  called  out  the  words  of 
Nahum  and  Habakkuk.  Nahum  seems  to  have 
written  his  book  before  the  fall  of  Nineveh,  but 
when  the  power  of  her  enemies  was  plain.  He 
imagined  from  afar  the  taking  of  the  city, — ^the 
noise  of  the  whips,  the  noise  of  the  rattling  wheels 
of  the  jumping  chariots  as  the  besiegers  with 
swords  and  spears  made  their  way  into  the  streets. 
'^ Nineveh,'*  he  cried,  "is  laid  waste.  Who  will  be- 
moan her?*'  That  great  Assyrian  power,  which 
had  destroyed  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  and  threat- 
ened the  kingdom  of  Judah,  whose  hand  was 
heavy  on  all  the  nations,  was  now  to  meet  the 
proper  punishment  for  years  of  oppression.  Na- 
hum was  glad.  The  thought  of  the  ruin  of  Nin- 
eveh filled  him  with  joy. 

To  Habakkuk,  however,  who  wrote  after  the  de- 
struction of  Nineveh,  the  situation  was  not  so 
clear.  The  Assyrians,  indeed,  the  old  enemies  and 
masters  of  the  Jews,  had  been  brought  low,  but  in 
their  place  stood  the   Chaldeans,   the  lords  of 

193 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY 

Babylon.  And  the  Chaldeans  were  coming  to 
invade  the  West.  The  old  enemies  had  been  ex- 
changed for  new;  and  the  new,  it  seemed,  were 
worse  than  the  old:  **A  bitter  and  a  hasty  nation, 
terrible  and  dreadful,^'  with  horses  swifter  than 
leopards  and  fiercer  than  wolves,  coming  all  for 
violence. 

Thus  the  book  of  Habakkuk  begins  with  a  dia- 
logue. "0  Lord,''  says  the  prophet,  ''how  long 
shall  I  cry  unto  Thee,  and  Thou  wilt  not  hear?'' 

''I  do  hear,"  says  the  Lord,  ''have  I  not  de- 
stroyed your  oppressors,  the  Assyrians?" 

"Yes,  Lord,"  replies  the  prophet,  "but  Thou 
hast  raised  up  a  worse  nation,  the  Chaldeans. 
Wherefore  holdest  Thou  Thy  peace  when  the 
wicked  swalloweth  up  the  man  who  is  more 
righteous  than  he?" 

To  this  question  which  men  have  always  asked, 
and  are  still  asking — ^the  problem  of  the  prosperity 
of  the  wicked  and  of  the  adversity  of  the  good — 
the  book  contains  two  answers.  One  is  that  the 
Chaldeans,  wicked  as  they  are,  shall  punish  the 
wickedness  of  Judah;  they  are  an  instrument  in 
the  Lord's  hands  to  bring  about  His  great  pur- 
poses. The  other  is  that  life  consists  in  righteous- 
ness;   "the  just  shall  Hve  by  his  faith."     Not 

194 


ZEPHANIAL,  NAHUM,  HABAKKUK 

wealth,  nor  health,  nor  prosperity,  nor  peace  is  the 
best  possession,  but  a  good  conscience.  They  who 
trust  God  and  serve  Him  have  an  abiding  happi- 
ness which  no  Chaldeans  nor  any  other  calamities 
can  take  away. 

Then  the  prophet  sings  five  defiant  songs  against 
the  approaching  enemy.  The  book  ends  with  a 
psalm  concerning  the  mighty  power  of  God. 


195 


JEREMIAH 

1.  The  book  which  the  king  burned,  1-17. 

(1)  The  prophets  call,  1. 

(2)  His  first  sermon,  2-6. 

(3)  "Amend  your  ways,"  7-10. 

(4)  "Hear  the  words  of  the  covenant,"  11-17. 

2.  Prophecies  on  various  occasions,  18-33. 

(1)  The  sermon  which  led  to  the  stocks,  19. 

(2)  Sermons  on  kings,  21-23:1-8. 

(3)  A  sermon  on  prophets,  23 :9-40. 

(4)  The  people  left  behind,  24. 

(5)  The  battle  of  Carchemish,  25. 

(6)  The  sermon  which  raised  the  mob,  26. 

(7)  In  the  reign  of  Zedekiah,  27-29. 

(8)  On  the  restoration  of  the  exiles,  30-33. 

3.  Chapters  of  history,  34-45. 

The  final  siege  of  Jerusalem, 
d.  Prophecies   concerning   foreign   nations,   46-51, 
with  II  Kings  24:18—25:30  quoted,  52. 

npHEY  brought  one  day  to  King  Jehoiakim  a 

roll  of  writing.    '^Baruch,  the  scribe,"  they 

said,  "has  been  reading  this  roll  to  a  great  crowd 

of  people  in  the  temple,  and  we  have  had  him  read 

it  to  us  princes.     We  think  that  you  ought  to 

hear  it." 

Now  the  king  was  in  his  winter  palace,  and  a 

196 


JEREMIAH 

fire  was  burning  before  him  on  the  hearth.  So  he 
Ustened  while  one  read  from  the  roll  of  writing. 
Every  sentence  made  him  more  angry.  At  last, 
after  three  or  four  leaves  had  been  read,  he 
snatched  it  from  the  reader^s  hand,  cut  it  in  pieces 
with  his  penknife,  and  threw  it  into  the  fire  till  it 
was  all  consumed.  Then  he  sent  officers  to  arrest 
Baruch  and  the  writer  of  the  roll,  but  they  could 
not  find  them. 

This  writing  was  the  first  copy  of  the  book  of 
Jeremiah.  When  he  heard  what  the  king  had  done, 
he  called  Baruch  and  dictated  to  him  again  all  that 
was  in  the  roll,  and  more  also,  and  Baruch  wrote 
it  as  he  spoke  it.  This  we  have  in  the  first  seven- 
teen chapters  of  the  book. 

In  this  writing,  Jeremiah  gave  an  account  of  his 
ministry  of  twenty  years. 

He  had  become  a  prophet  when  the  Scythians 
were  bringing  upon  the  nations  the  terror  which 
had  inspired  Zephaniah.  He  had  read  the  book 
of  Deuteronomy,  when  it  was  a  new  book,  just 
found  in  its  hiding-place  in  the  temple,  and  had 
taken  part  in  the*  reformation  which  was  thus 
stirred  up.  He  had  lamented  the  untimely  death 
of  Josiah  in  the  battle  with  the  Egyptian.  All  this 
time  he  had  set  himself  against  the  sins  of  the 

197 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY 

princes  and  the  priests  of  Judah.  The  princes  he 
accused  of  injustice,  the  priests  he  accused  of 
idolatry.  All  of  them,  he  said,  had  forsaken  God. 
And  the  whole  people  should  be  punished.  He 
spoke  very  plainly  of  the  king,  who  in  the  midst  of 
the  poverty  of  the  land  was  building  a  new  palace 
and  making  men  work  for  him  for  nothing.  Such 
words  as  these  cannot  be  spoken  without  making 
enemies.  The  king,  the  priests  and  the  princes 
hated  Jeremiah. 

One  time,  in  the  court  of  the  temple,  he  declared 
that  the  ministers  of  God  in  Jerusalem  were  so 
offensive  to  God,  by  their  sins  and  their  worship 
of  other  gods,  that  the  temple  should  certainly  be 
destroyed.    And  a  mob  tried  to  kill  him. 

One  time,  in  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  he  called  the 
rulers  of  Jerusalem  together,  and  taking  a  bottle 
in  his  hand  broke  it  into  a  hundred  pieces,  and  de- 
clared that  on  account  of  the  wickedness  of  the 
princes  God  would  thus  shatter  the  kingdom  of 
Judah.  They  put  him  in  the  stocks  by  the  gate  of 
the  temple,  and  exposed  him  to  the  insults  of  the 
people. 

To  this  preaching  against  the  bad  morals  of 
the  princes  and  the  bad  religion  of  the  priests, 
Jeremiah  added  his  preaching  against  the  bad 

198 


JEREMIAH 

politics  of  the  king  and  his  court.  The  victory  of  the 
Chaldeans  over  the  Egyptians  at  Carchemish  re- 
vealed to  Jeremiah  the  fact  that  Nebuchadnezzar 
was  the  master  of  the  world.  King  Jehoiakim  did 
not  believe  it.  It  seemed  to  him,  and  to  many 
others,  that  the  Egyptians,  in  spite  of  their  defeat, 
would  yet  conquer  the  Chaldeans.  Thus  there 
were  two  parties  in  Judah,  a  great  Egyptian  party 
planning  revolt  against  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  a 
small  Chaldean  party,  led  by  Jeremiah,  urging  the 
people  to  resist  a  rebellion  so  foolish  and  so  certain 
to  be  fatal. 

In  spite  of  Jeremiah,  Jehoiakim  rebelled  against 
Chaldea.  At  first,  Nebuchadnezzar  sent  only  a 
few  soldiers  against  him.  Among  the  people  whom 
these  soldiers  drove  in  from  the  fields  to  take 
refuge  in  Jerusalem  were  the  Rechabites,  whom 
Jeremiah  made  the  text  of  a  sermon.  Their  father, 
wishing  to  keep  them  from  the  evils  of  cities,  had 
commanded  them  never  to  live  in  houses  nor  to 
drink  wine.  Even  in  Jerusalem  they  lived  in  the 
streets  in  tents,  and  drank  no  wine.  "See,'^  cried 
Jeremiah  to  the  people,  '^how  the  Rechabites  keep 
the  commandment  of  their  father,  while  you  dis- 
obey the  will  of  God.'' 

Jehoiakim  died  before  the  storm  which  he  had 

199 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY 

invited  broke  upon  the  land.  But  Jehoiachin  his 
son  was  carried  captive  to  Babylon,  and  Jerusalem 
was  plundered  of  its  treasurers,  and  ten  thousand 
leading  citizens,  with  their  wives  and  children, 
followed  the  exiled  king.  Jeremiah  remained. 
But  the  people  had  not  learned  their  lesson.  The 
removal  of  the  chief  citizens  had  brought  forward 
new  and  inferior  men.  They  took  the  empty 
places,  and  moved  into  the  empty  houses,  and 
accounted  themselves  in  good  luck.  ^^The  punish- 
ment of  God,^'  they  said,  '^has  come  and  is  past. 
It  was  not  so  bad,  after  all.^' 

So  there  were  two  parties  again  under  Zedekiah, 
as  there  had  been  under  Jehoiakim.  Not  only  the 
princes  and  the  priests  but  the  prophets  belonged 
to  the  Egyptian  party,  all  except  Jeremiah.  They 
said  that  the  power  of  the  Chaldeans  should  soon 
cease,  and  the  captives  should  return.  Jeremiah 
made  a  yoke  and  put  it  on  his  neck  and  said  in  a 
great  assembly,  "This  is  the  yoke  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, which  we  and  all  the  people  of  the  earth 
must  wear.''  But  a  prophet  took  the  yoke  from 
Jeremiah's  neck  and  broke  it. 

Thus  King  Zedekiah  rebelled  against  the  Chal- 
deans, and  Nebuchadnezzar  came  again.  At  first, 
the  Jews  tried  to  get  the  help  of  God  by  freeing 

200 


JEREMIAH 

their  brethren  whom  they  held  in  slavery;  but 
they  took  them  back  again.  Jeremiah  declared 
every  day  that  Jerusalem  would  be  taken,  and 
the  only  wise  course  was  to  surrender.  When  the 
Chaldeans  raised  the  siege  for  a  little,  being 
attacked  by  the  Egyptians,  Jeremiah  started  to 
go  home  to  Anathoth.  He  was  arrested  at  the  gate 
and  put  in  prison,  and  after  that  was  thrown  down 
into  a  well,  which  had  only  mud,  however,  and  no 
water  at  the  bottom.  Out  of  this  he  was  drawn  up 
by  a  faithful  friend.  He  continued,  nevertheless, 
to  declare  the  certain  victory  of  the  besiegers,  until 
the  tragic  day  came  and  verified  his  words.  Neb- 
uchadnezzar destroyed  Jerusalem  and  again  car- 
ried away  a  great  captivity. 

The  Chaldeans  treated  Jeremiah  with  respect, 
but  he  chose  to  stay  in  the  desolated  land.  There 
he  was  seized  by  his  fleeing  countrymen  and 
carried  into  Egypt,  where  he  is  said  to  have  died 
a  martyr  at  their  hands.  Thus  ended  the  long 
ministry  of  a  brave  man  who  never  hesitated  to 
rebuke  vice  no  matter  how  powerful  the  sinner, 
and  who  never  failed  to  be  true  to  the  convictions 
of  his  own  conscience. 


201 


EZEKIEL 

1.  The  prophet's  call,  1-3. 

2.  Prophesies  of  destruction,  4-24. 

(1)  The  fall  of  Jerusalem,  in  symbols,  4-7. 

(2)  The  fall  of  Jerusalem,  in  visions,  8-11. 

(3)  The  fall  of  Jerusalem,  in  oracles,  12-24. 

2.  Prophecies  concerning  foreign  nations,  25-32. 

3.  Prophecies  of  restoration,  33-39. 

(1)  The  new  message,  33. 

(2)  The  new  court,  34. 

(3)  The  new  country,  35,  36. 

(4)  The  new  people,  37. 

(5)  The  defeat  of  Gog,  38,  39. 

4.  The  city  of  God,  40-48. 

(1)  The  holy  temple,  40-43. 

(2)  The  holy  worship,  44-46. 

(3)  The  holy  land,  47,  48. 

A  MONG  the  leading  citizens  of  Jerusalem  who 
were  carried  by  Nebuchadnezzar  to  Babylon 
at  the  time  of  his  first  invasion,  was  a  young  priest 
named  Ezekiel.  He  settled  with  the  others  by  the 
rivers  of  Babylon;  that  is,  by  the  irrigation  canals 
which  watered  the  plains  in  which  that  city  stood. 
He  became  the  leader  of  the  captives.  As  Isaiah 
was  the  great  prophet  of  the  Assyrian  invasion 

202 


EZEKIEL 

which  destroyed  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  and 
Jeremiah  was  the  great  prophet  of  the  Chal- 
dean invasion  which  destroyed  the  kingdom  of 
Judah,  so  Ezekiel  was  the  great  prophet  of  the 
exile. 

The  first  business  of  Ezekiel  was  to  assure  the 
people  that  Jerusalem  should  certainly  be  de- 
stroyed. They  could  not  believe  it.  The  city 
had,  indeed,  been  taken,  and  they  themselves  had 
been  brought  away,  but  they  were  confidant  of 
return.  Daily  they  looked  for  some  defeat  of 
Babylon  which  should  set  them  free.  It  was  a 
part  of  their  faith  that  Jerusalem  was  not  only  the 
holy  city  of  their  religion,  but  that  God  lived  there, 
in  the  temple.  In  that  day,  the  common  belief 
was  that  each  nation  and  land  had  its  own  God. 
"The  Lord,"  the  Jews  said,  ''must  preserve  us  His 
people,  and  Jerusalem  His  city,  else  what  shall 
become  of  Him?" 

The  vision  by  which  Ezekiel  was  called  to  be  a 
prophet  was  one  in  which  he  saw  the  Lord  sitting 
on  a  wheeled  throne,  and  as  he  looked,  the  wheels 
began  to  turn  and  the  throne  began  to  move,  and 
the  Lord  came  away  from  the  temple  and  the 
city  and  left  them  far  behind.  The  vision  meant 
that  God  was  not  confined  to  any  place.    "Even 

203 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  SIXTH  CENTURY 

though  Jerusalem  be  destroyed/'  said  Ezekiel, 
''our  God  is  here  with  us/' 

Ezekiel  taught,  accordingly,  that  God  intended 
to  forsake  Jerusalem.  He  reminded  the  exiles  of 
the  wickedness  and  idolatry  against  which  Jere- 
miah was  even  then  vainly  preaching:  idols  of 
other  gods  standing  in  the  temple,  sacred  cham- 
bers there  with  walls  covered  with  painted  reptiles 
and  men  swinging  censers  before  them,  women 
weeping  for  Tammuz,  a  Babylonian  god  of  nature, 
men  with  their  backs  to  the  altar  of  the  Lord, 
worshipping  the  sun.  ''To  this,''  he  said,  "has 
religion  come  in  the  holy  city,  even  in  the  temple! 
Must  they  not  be  destroyed?" 

Thus  passed  ten  years,  and  then  the  tragedy 
came.  The  temple  and  the  city  were  destroyed, 
and  over  the  long  roads  came  the  new  companies 
of  mourning  captives  to  join  their  countrymen  in 
Babylon.  By  the  rivers  of  Babylon  they  sat  down 
and  wept  when  they  remembered  Zion.  They 
hanged  their  harps  upon  the  willows  in  the  midst 
thereof.  Their  masters  were  not  unkind,  and 
wished  to  hear  them  sing  their  native  songs,  but 
they  could  not  sing  the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange 
land. 

Now.  however,  Ezekiel  became  the  preacher  of 

204 


EZEKIEL 

hope  and  consolation.  Jerusalem  had  been  de- 
stroyed, but  it  should  be  rebuilded.  Now  the 
Second  Isaiah  sang  the  Lord's  song,  and  though 
the  land  was  strange  the  song  was  more  filled  with 
faith  and  music  than  any  song  had  been  before. 
Now,  to  keep  in  careful  memory  the  manner  of 
conducting  the  service  of  the  temple,  that  record 
of  ancient  law  was  made  which  constitutes  a  great 
part  of  our  book  of  Leviticus. 

Now  Ezekiel  began  to  picture  for  the  people  the 
new  time  coming,  when  they  should  return  to  their 
own  land,  and  the  land  should  be  more  fertile  and 
beautiful  than  in  the  days  of  their  fathers,  and  the 
city  should  be  greater  and  finer  than  before,  and 
the  temple  should  far  exceed  in  glory  all  the 
splendors  of  the  temple  of  Solomon.  Even  the 
Jordan  should  become  a  wide  and  mighty  river, 
and  the  Dead  Sea  should  become  a  lake  of  sweet 
water,  filled  with  fish.  Down  should  come,  he 
said,  the  vast  nations  of  the  north,  the  wild  armies 
of  Gog,  the  king  of  Magog,  and  should  assail  the 
people  of  the  Lord  in  the  Lord's  land,  and  so  great 
should  be  their  total  defeat  that  even  their  broken 
bows  and  arrows  should  provide  the  people  for 
seven  years  with  firewood!  Thus  the  restored 
people,  pure  from  sin  and  forsaking  all  other  gods 

205 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  THE  SIXTH  CENTURY 

and  keeping  the  law,  should  dwell  in  peace  and 
plenty,  blessed  of  God  forever. 

On  these  visions  of  Ezekiel  the  people  Hved  all 
the  dark  time  of  the  exile.  And  when  as  he 
promised  they  returned  to  their  own  country,  they 
tried  to  realize  them.  They  were  no  more  a  king- 
dom, nor  have  they  been  an  independent  nation 
since  that  day,  but  they  became,  as  they  are  still, 
a  church,  a  people  held  together  by  the  faith  and 
customs  of  their  holy  religion.  This  they  owed  to 
Ezekiel.  In  their  darkest  hour,  he  came  and  saved 
them. 


206 


OBADIAH,  LAMENTATIONS,    HAGGAI, 
ZECHARIAH 

1.  Obadiah.    The  Fall  of  Jerusalem;  the  Laughter 

of  Edom. 

(1)  The  downfall  of  Edom  predicted,  1:1-9. 

(2)  The  downfall  of  Edom  justified,  1:10-21. 

2.  Lamentations;    the  Fall  of  Jerusalem;   the  Dis- 

tress of  Judah. 

(1)  The  desolation  of  Zion,  1. 

(2)  The  indignation  of  God,  2. 

(3)  The  grief  of  the  poet,  3. 

(4)  During  the  siege,  4. 

(5)  After  the  siege,  5. 

3.  Haggai;  the  Rebuilding  of  the  Temple;  Exhor- 

tations 

(1)  In  the  sixth  month,  (520),  1. 

The  temple  must  be  built. 

(2)  In  the  seventh  month,  2  :l-9. 

The  new  shall  exceed  the  old. 

(3)  In  the  ninth  month,  2:10-23 

a.  To  the  people,  promising  prosperity. 
h.  To  the  governor,  promising  protection. 

4.  Zechariah.      The    Rebuilding    of    the    Temple. 

Visions. 

(1)  Zechariah,  1-8. 

a.  Visions  of  encouragement. 

b.  Feasts  for  fasts. 

(2)  Other  prophets,  9-14. 

The  Messianic  Age. 
207 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  THE  SIXTH  CENTURY 

n^HE  fall  of  Jerusalem  filled  the  hearts  of  the  con- 
quered and  exiled  people  with  anger  and  with 
sorrow.  The  one  hundred  and  thirty-seventh 
psalm  shows  how  they  felt.  They  sat  down  and 
wept  when  they  remembered  Zion.  But  even 
greater  than  their  grief  was  the  hatred  with  which 
they  remembered  Edom,  for  the  men  of  Edom  had 
rejoiced  over  their  misfortunes;  they  had  stood 
by  during  the  destruction  of  the  city  and  had 
cried,  "Down  with  it!  down  with  it,  even  to  the 
ground!" 

These  two  feelings  of  anger  and  of  sorrow,  are 
expressed  in  two  small  books,  the  prophecy  of 
Obadiah  and  the  poem  of  Lamentations. 

The  book  of  Obadiah  is  against  Edom.  The 
holy  city  has  been  destroyed,  amidst  the  laughter 
of  the  Edomites,  but  Obadiah  declares  that  a  like 
calamity  shall  befall  them.  "  You  dwell  among  the 
rocks,"  he  says,  "and  exult  like  an  eagle  whose 
nest  is  among  the  stars;  but  the  Lord  shall  bring 
you  down.  You  stood  by,  even  you,  our  kinsmen, 
when  foreigners  came  upon  us  and  destroyed  us; 
you  stood  in  the  crossway  to  cut  off  our  escape; 
but  shall  suffer  for  it,  you  shall  be  burned  like 
stubble." 

The  book  of  Lamentations  belongs  properly 

208 


OBADIAH,  LAMENTATIONS 

among  the  poems,  for  it  is  a  little  collection  of 
psalms.  The  subject  of  the  book  is  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem.  ''How  doth  the  city  sit  solitary  that 
was  full  of  people!  Judah  is  gone  into  captivity 
because  of  affliction,  and  because  of  great  servi- 
tude: she  dwelleth  among  the  heathen,  she 
findeth  no  rest."  The  poet  confesses  that  the 
ruin  of  the  city  was  the  result  of  the  sins  of  the 
people,  and  he  prays  the  Lord  for  mercy.  "Behold, 
O  Lord,  for  J  am  in  distress!"  Jerusalem  lies  in 
the  dust,  and  they  who  pass  by  say,  "Is  this  the 
city  that  men  called  the  perfection  of  beauty,  the 
joy  of  the  whole  earth?"  In  the  name  of  the  dis- 
tressed people,  held  in  captivity  in  Babylon,  the 
poet  cries  aloud,  "Mine  eye  runneth  down  with 
water;  mine  eye  trickleth  down  and  ceaseth  not, 
without  any  intermission.  O  Lord,  thou  hast  seen 
my  wrong,  judge  thou  my  cause." 

Between  the  books  of  Obadiah  and  Lamenta- 
tions concerning  the  destruction  of  the  city  in  586, 
and  the  books  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah  concerning 
the  restoration  of  the  temple  in  516,  is  a  space 
of  seventy  years. 

The  exiles  had  returned  in  536,  but  they  had 
long  delayed  the  rebuilding  of  their  church.  They 
had  by  no  means  realized  the  splendid  vision  of 

209 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  THE  SIXTH  CENTURY 

Ezekiel.  They  had  occupied  themselves  in  the 
construction  of  their  own  houses,  which  they  had 
erected  on  the  ruins  of  the  city.  Zerubbabel  the 
governor  and  Joshua  the  high  priest  had  not  been 
able  to  persuade  the  people  to  restore  the  temple. 
The  walls  of  the  sanctuary  which  Solomon  had 
built  lay  upon  the  ground.  It  is  likely  that  the 
ancient  altar  of  sacrifice,  made  of  the  unhewn  rock 
of  the  hill,  was  still  held  sacred,  and  that  there  the 
worship  of  the  Lord  was  still  maintained;  but  the 
temple  lay  in  ruins. 

Some  of  the  people  said,  "We  must  build  our 
houses  first,  we  must  have  a  roof  over  our  heads.'' 
And  that  interested  them  so  much  that  they  for- 
got to  build  the  church. 

Some  said,  "The  Samaritans  stopped  us  when 
we  began  to  build.  They  will  come  again  and 
hinder  us  if  we  begin  anew.  We  must  wait  till  we 
are  strong  enough  to  fight  them;  or  until  the  king 
of  Persia  sends  soldiers  to  protect  us." 

Some  said,  "  We  must  tarry  till  we  have  a  leader. 
The  Messiah,  promised  by  Micah  and  Isaiah,  by 
Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel,  must  first  come.'' 

Then  arose  Haggai  and  Zechariah  and  urged 
the  people  to  begin  at  once. 

Haggai  addressed  the  high  priest  and  the  gov- 

210 


HAGGAI,  ZECHARIAH 

ernor,  and  told  them  that  it  was  their  duty  to 
rebuild  the  Lord's  house.  When  the  people,  in 
their  discouragement,  said,  "We  can  never  restore 
the  temple  to  its  old  glories  of  the  time  of  Solo- 
mon," he  said,  "The  building  may  not  be  so  fine, 
but  the  best  part  of  a  church  is  the  spirit  of  those 
who  worship  in  it.  The  Lord  shall  come  to  the  new 
temple,  and  bring  blessings  with  him." 

Zechariah  confirmed  the  word  of  Haggai.  He 
said,  "I  saw  the  Lord's  chariots  and  horses  going 
up  and  down  the  earth,  and  reporting  the  peace 
and  quiet  of  all  nations,  and  I  heard  the  word  of 
the  Lord  saying,  'Now  shall  my  house  be  built! '  " 
He  said,  "I  saw  the  great  nations  as  four  beasts 
with  horns,  and  a  carpenter  sawing  off  their  horns 
that  they  may  do  no  more  hurt  with  them."  He 
said,  "I  saw  a  man  with  a  measuring  line  laying 
out  the  plan  of  a  new  Jerusalem,  whose  walls  are 
the  fire  of  the  Lord." 

He  encouraged  Joshua,  saying  that  God  was  on 
his  side;  and  Zerubbabel,  in  whom  he  hoped  to  see 
the  Messiah,  long-expected.  He  said  that  the 
people  were  like  a  golden  lamp,  and  that  Joshua 
and  Zerubbabel  were  like  olive  trees,  one  on  each 
side,  to  supply  the  lamp  with  oil.  He  saw  the 
sins  of  the  people,  written  on  a  roll,  flying  away; 

211 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  SIXTH  CENTURY 

and  the  guilt  of  the  people,  as  a  woman  put  *n  a 
chest,  carried  off  to  Babylon. 

He  said  that  the  fasts,  which  the  people  had 
kept  in  remembrance  of  the  destruction  of  the 
temple,  should  now  be  changed  to  feasts.  He 
looked  for  the  near  approach  of  Messiah^s  time 
when  the  whole  land,  with  the  new  temple  in  the 
midst  of  it,  should  be  filled  with  prosperity  and 
grace. 

Afterwards,  other  writings  were  attached  to  the 
paper  on  which  the  prophecy  of  Zechariah  was 
written.  These  are  contained  in  the  ninth  and 
following  chapters.  They  speak  of  sins  and  dis- 
tresses of  the  people,  of  enemies  in  Syria  and 
Egypt,  of  a  siege  and  capture  of  Jerusalem,  and 
of  the  establishment  of  the  reign  of  Messiah  over 
all  the  earth.  They  are  quite  different  from  the 
earlier  chapters,  both  in  subject  and  in  manner  of 
writing.  But  by  whom  they  were  written,  and 
when  they  were  written,  nobody  knows.  Perhaps 
in  the  second  century  before  Christ  when  the  Jews 
were  contending  with  the  Greeks. 


212 


MALACHI,  JOEL,  JONAH 

1.  Malachi.   Concerning  Indifference. 

(1)  The  offences  of  the  people,  1  :l-3,  12. 

a.  In  worship. 

6.  In  society  and  in  business. 

c.  In  the  withholding  of  offerings. 

(2)  The  day  of  the  Lord,  3:13-4:6. 

2.  Joel.    Concerning  the  Locusts  and  the  Day  of  the 

Lord. 

(1)  The  prophet  speaks  1-2:17. 

Locusts  and  famine;  prayer  and  fasting. 

(2)  The  Lord  answers,  2:18-3:21. 

a.  Blessings,  material  and  spiritual. 
6.  The  day  of  the  Lord. 

3.  Jonah.    Concerning  Hatred  of  the  Gentiles. 

(1)  The  evasion  of  Jonah,  1,  2. 

a.  The  disobedience  of  the  prophet. 
6.  The  storm  and  the  fish. 
c.  The  hymn  of  praise. 

(2)  The  Mission  of  Jonah,  3. 

a.  The  repentance  of  the  people 

6.  The  disappointment  of  the  preacher. 

npHE  temple  was  rebuilt,  but  the  people  were  not 

reformed.    The  urging  of  Haggai  and  Zecha- 

riah  had  led  to  the  completion  of  the  sanctuary, 

but  on  the  day  of  the  dedication  the  older  men 

213 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  FIFTH  CENTURY,  AND  AFTER 

had  shed  tears;  partly  because  the  new  building 
was  so  inferior  to  the  old,  and  because  the  people, 
with  all  their  enthusiasm  and  shouting,  cared  so 
little  for  religion. 

This  indifference  continued.  The  people,  who 
had  been  so  much  more  interested  in  building 
their  houses  than  in  building  the  Lord^s  house 
entered  with  little  devotion  into  the  new  services. 
They  brought  for  sacrifices  the  lambs  which  were 
not  good  for  food,  and  the  priests  made  no  objec- 
tion. They  gave  so  little  money  that  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  maintain  the  music  and  the  dignity  of  the 
worship.  And  they  said  that,  so  far  as  they  could 
see,  God  cared  little  whether  they  were  good  or 
bad.  He  blessed  the  wicked  quite  as  much  as  the 
righteous. 

This  was  the  situation  which  was  met  by  the 
prophet  Malachi.  His  ministry  was  between  that 
of  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  on  one  side,  and  that  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  on  the  other.  He  reproved 
the  people  for  their  indifference  to  the  services  of 
the  temple,  and  for  the  smallness  of  their  offerings. 
As  for  the  complaint  that  God  makes  no  difference 
between  the  evil  and  the  good,  "A  day  is  coming,'' 
he  said,  "in  which  you  shall  see  the  hand  of  God. 
In  that  day,  the  good  shall  be  rewarded  and  the 

214 


MALACHI,  JOEL,  JONAH 

bad  punished.  The  Lord  shall  come,  and  they  who 
have   been  faithful   to   Him   shall  be   blessed.'' 

In  the  time  of  Joel,  a  hundred  years  after,  it 
seemed  as  if  the  day  of  the  Lord  was  indeed  at 
hand.  A  fearful  disaster  is  overtaking  the  people. 
The  land  is  being  desolated  by  what  seems  to  be 
an  invasion  of  locusts.  "The  vine  is  dried  up,  and 
the  fig  tree  languisheth;  the  pomegranate  tree, 
the  palm  tree  also,  and  the  apple  tree,  even  all  the 
trees  of  the  field  are  withered.''  The  day  of  the 
Lord  is  nigh  at  hand,  "a  day  of  darkness  and  of 
gloominess,  a  day  of  clouds  and  of  thick  darkness." 
The  locusts  are  its  heralds.  "The  land  is  as  the 
garden  of  Eden  before  them,  and  behind  them  a 
desolate  wilderness.''  Joel  calls  the  people  to 
repent  and  fast  and  pray.  He  promises  that  in 
answer  to  their  grief  and  prayer  the  Lord  shall 
drive  away  their  enemies,  and  save  them. 

Then  passes  another  century,  and  more,  and 
the  book  of  Jonah  is  addressed  to  a  people  who  are 
again  suffering  affiiction.  Now  the  scourge  is 
not  the  locusts  and  the  famine,  but  the  increased 
oppression  of  the  Greeks.  As  the  Persians  fol- 
lowed the  Chaldeans,  so  the  Persians  have  been 
followed  by  the  Greeks.  The  land  lies  under  the 
oppression  of  the  Gentiles.    And,  year  by  year, 

215 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  FIFTH  CENTURY,  AND  AFTER 

this  oppression  embitters  the  mind  of  the  people. 
Year  by  year,  they  hate  the  Gentiles  more  than 
before. 

The  Jews  were  a  people  with  a  divine  mission. 
It  was  said  at  the  beginning  to  Abraham  that  in 
his  family  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed.  The  truth  concerning  the  nature  and  the 
will  of  God  which  the  Jews  had  was  to  be  taught 
by  them  to  all  their  neighbors.  They  were  to 
make  the  whole  world  better.  They  were  to  save 
the  nations  out  of  their  old  idolatries,  and  to  raise 
the  standard  of  righteous  Uving. 

For  a  long  time,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Jews  were 
fully  occupied  in  overcoming  their  own  tempta- 
tions to  unrighteousness  and  to  idolatry.  They 
confessed  that  the  destruction  of  their  national 
life  was  the  just  result  of  their  failure  to  keep  the 
will  of  God.  But  when  they  were  ready,  after  the 
exile,  to  enter  at  last  upon  their  mission,  and  to 
teach  the  Gentiles  the  great  lessons  which  they 
had  learned,  their  sufferings,  while  they  had  im- 
proved their  morals  and  their  religion,  had  made 
them  hate  the  people  whom  they  might  have 
taught.  The  book  of  Esther  shows  their  bitter 
feeling. 

The  book  of  Jonah  is  about  a  foreign  mission 

216 


MALACHI,  JOEL,  JONAH 

conducted  by  a  man  who  is  filled  with  the  spirit 
of  that  time.  Jonah  is  sent  to  preach  to  Nineveh 
and  he  sets  out  in  precisely  the  opposite  direction ; 
being  told  by  God  to  go  east  to  Assyria,  he  starts 
to  go  west  to  Spain.  He  takes  a  ship  for  Tarshish. 
There  is  a  storm  and  a  shipwreck  and  an  adven- 
ture with  a  fish,  and  Jonah  learns  that  when  God 
tells  him  to  do  a  thing,  he  must  obey. 

Thus  Jonah  goes  to  Nineveh  and  preaches.  His 
sermon,  in  one  sentence,  is  ^'Yet  forty  days  and 
Nineveh  shall  be  overthrown."  Then  he  sits  down 
on  the  side  of  a  neighboring  hill  and  waits  for  the 
appointed  destruction.  But  in  the  meantime  the 
people  of  Nineveh,  moved  by  Jonah's  preaching, 
repent,  and  the  forty  days  pass  and  they  are  not 
destroyed.  Then  Jonah  is  very  angry.  He  re- 
proves God.  "You  have  saved  these  miserable 
Ninevites,"  he  says,  "whom  you  promised  to 
destroy.''  He  is  grieved  to  the  heart  that  his 
mission  has  been  successful.  That  was  the  least 
of  his  desires.  He  wished  to  see  those  Gentiles  and 
all  the  other  Gentiles  struck  with  lightning.  God 
reproves  the  angry  prophet,  and  tells  him — ^what 
the  Jews  of  that  age  were  forgetting — ^that  all  the 
people  of  the  world  are  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
God. 

217 


DANIEL 

1.  Narratives,  1-6. 

1.  The  adventure  of  the  king's  meat. 

2.  The  king  dreams  of  an  image. 

3.  The  adventure  of  a  fiery  furnace. 
A.  The  king  dreams  of  a  tree. 

^  5.  The  adventure  of  the  writing  on  the  wall. 
>/  6.  The  adventure  of  the  den  of  Uons. 

2.  Visions,  7-12. 

1.  The  first  vision  of  the  little  horn. 

2.  The  second  vision  of  the  little  horn. 

3.  The  vision  of  the  seventy  weeks. 

4.  The  vision  of  the  contending  angels. 

5.  The  vision  of  the  abomination  of  desolation. 

T  OOKING  back,  now,  over  our  long  journey 
through  the  Old  Testament,  we  see  that  we 
have  been  studying  the  history  of  about  fifteen  hun- 
dred years.  The  earlier  dates  are  all  uncertain, 
but  it  is  a  fair  and  convenient  guess  that  Abraham 
was  making  his  adventurous  journey  to  Palestine 
about  the  year  1500  B.  C.  And  we  may  be  helped 
to  remember  it  by  reflecting  that  it  was  almost 
1500  A.  D.,  when  Columbus  was  making  his  still 
more  adventurous  voyage  to  America. 

Making  a  second  guess,  we  may  say  that  Moses 

218 


DANIEL 

was  bringing  the  Israelites  out  of  Egypt  and  mak- 
ing a  nation  of  them,  about  the  year  1250. 

It  is  a  certain  fact,  without  any  guess,  that 
David,  with  Saul  before  him  and  Solomon  after 
him,  was  establishing  the  people  as  a  kingdom 
about  the  year  1000. 

Thus  we  have  three  easy  dates :  Abraham  1500, 
Moses  1250,  David  1000. 

Then,  about  750,  being  just  in  the  middle  of  our 
Old  Testament  history,  we  find  Jeroboam  II 
reigning  in  Israel,  and  Uzziah  reigning  in  Judah 
and  the  Bible  just  begining  to  be  gathered  together 
out  of  ancient  memories  and  records  into  the  books 
which  now  compose  it. 

After  that,  the  dates  are  certain  and  definite: 
the  faU  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  completed  by  the 
destruction  of  Samaria  at  the  hands  of  the  Assy- 
rians, under  Sargon,  in  722;  the  fall  of  the  king- 
dom of  Judah  completed  by  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  at  the  hands  of  the  Chaldeans,  under 
Nebuchadnezzar,  in  586;  the  exiled  Jews  per- 
mitted to  return  to  their  own  land,  in  subjection 
to  the  Persians,  under  Cyrus,  in  536. 

The  next  important  date  is  the  conquest  of  the 
Persian  empire  by  Alexander  in  332.  This  brought 
the  Jews  under  new  masters,  the  Greeks.     The 

219 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  FIFTH  CENTURY,  AND  AFTER 

Greek  period  of  Jewish  history  is  not  recorded  in 
the  books  of  the  Bible  which  we  commonly  read, 
but  in  other  books  sometimes  bound  up  with 
the  Bible,  but  more  often  not,  called  the  Apocry- 
pha. The  books  of  Maccabees  in  the  Apocrypha 
tell  how  the  Greeks  oppressed  the  Jews.  They 
add  to  the  list  of  the  foreign  kings  who  ruled  the 
Jews — Sargon  the  Assyrian,  Nebuchadnezzar  the 
Chaldean,  and  Cyrus  the  Persian — ^the  name  of 
Antiochus  the  Greek.  In  the  days  of  this  king, 
whose  reign  was  ended  only  a  little  more  than  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Christ,  the  book  of 
Daniel  was  written. 

The  sufferings  of  the  Jews  under  Antiochus  the 
Greek  were  largely  due  to  his  determination  to  turn 
them  all  into  Greeks.  His  plan  was  to  change  both 
their  customs  and  their  religion.  He  captured 
Jerusalem  by  attacking  the  city  on  a  Sabbath  day 
when  the  men  would  not  fight.  He  placed  a  Greek 
altar — ^which  the  Jews  called  'Hhe  abomination  of 
desolation' ' — on  the  altar  of  sacrifice.  He  burned 
the  sacred  books,  wherever  he  could  find  them. 
He  broke  down  the  carved  work  of  the  temple  with 
axes  and  hammers,  and  he  tried  to  compel  all  the 
Jews  to  give  up  their  worship  of  the  Lord,  under 
pain  of  death.    Against  him  rose  up  the  Maccabees 

220 


DANIEL 

and  succeeded  at  last  in  setting  the  people  iree. 
But  they  were  only  beginning  their  heroic  struggle 
when  the  author  of  Daniel  was  writing  his  book. 
The  storm  was  raging  about  them,  and  their  hearts 
were  failing  them  for  fear.  This  book  was  written 
to  console  and  encourage  these  grievously  afflicted 
people. 

Daniel,  the  hero  of  the  book,  is  introduced  to 
the  reader  in  the  first  chapter  as  one  of  the  Jewish 
exiles  in  Babylon.  Nebuchadnezzar  has  been 
attracted  to  him,  and  has  caused  him  to  be  edu- 
cated, with  three  other  Jewish  youths,  in  his  own 
court.  One  night,  the  king  has  a  dream,  and  in 
the  morning  he  has  forgotten  what  it  was.  He 
calls  his  wise  men  and  says,  ^^Tell  me  what  I 
dreamed  last  night,  and  then  tell  me  what  it 
meant. ^'  When  they  fail,  Daniel  comes  forward. 
"You  dreamed,'^  he  says,  "of  a  great  image,  with 
head  of  gold,  breast  and  arms  of  silver,  body  of 
brass,  legs  of  iron,  and  feet  of  iron  and  clay.  And 
a  stone  was  thrown  at  the  image  which  broke  it 
into  pieces,  and  the  stone  became  a  mountain. 
The  image  represents  the  kingdoms  of  the  world, 
beginning  with  the  Chaldean — ^the  head  of  gold — 
and  coming  down  to  the  Greek — ^the  feet  of  iron 

221 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  FIFTH  CENTURY,  AND  AFTER 

and  clay;  the  stone  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  the 
nation  of  the  Jews/' 

Nebuchadnezzar  makes  a  golden  image,  to 
which  all  men  must  bow  down,  under  penalty  of 
being  thrown  into  a  fiery  furnace.  Daniel  and  his 
three  companions  will  not  bow,  and  are  thrust  into 
the  furnace.  But  God  protects  them.  They  walk 
in  the  midst  of  the  fire  unharmed. 

Then  Nebuchadnezzar  is  humbled  by  being 
deprived  of  his  reason,  so  that  for  seven  years  he 
eats  grass  like  an  ox.  And  Bjel^hazzar,  his  suc- 
cessor, is  humbled  by  the  writing  of  a  hand  on  the 
wall  of  his  banquet  hall  declaring  that  he  shall  be 
overthrown.  Daniel  interprets  the  prophecy,  and 
that  night  it  is  fulfilled. 

The  next  king,  Dpjja^  is  induced  by  enemies 
of  Daniel  to  forbid  all  men  for  thirty  days  to  make 
their  prayers  to  any  god  or  man  except  to  the 
king  himself,  under  penalty  of  being  cast  into  a 
den  of  lions.  Daniel  kneeling  at  his  open  window 
towards  Jerusalem,  prays  to  the  Lord  in  spite  of 
the  decree  and  is  thrown  to  the  lions.  But  God 
protects  him;    the  mouths  of  the  lions  are  stopped. 

The  pttfpose^th^se  stories  of  heroism  and  faith 
ia«to  assure  the  people  that  God  will  help  them  as 
He  helped  Daniel.     As  He  saved  Daniel  from 

■*=^=^^^  222 


DANIEL 

Nebuchadnezzar  and  Darius,  from  flames  and 
lions,  sq^  will  He  save  the  Jews  from  the  power  of 
Antiochus. 

This  assurance  is  repeated  in  a  series  of  visions. 
It  was  a  time  when  it  was  not  safe  to  speak  plainly, 
and  call  Antiochus  by  name.  The  writer  spoke, 
accordingly,  in  symbols,  which  wise  men  would 
understand. 

/  Daniel  said,  "I  saw  four  beasts,  and  one  had  ten 
/horns,  and  another  Uttle  horn  speaking  proud 
/  things.  And  the  Ancient  of  Days  judged  the  httle 
horn,  and  the  beast  was  put  to  death.  After  that, 
the  beasts  being  destroyed,  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High  possessed  the  earth.''  The  beasts  are  the 
world-powers — Chaldean,  Persians,  Median  and 
Greek.  The  ten  horns  are  the  ten  generals  among 
whom  the  kingdom  of  Alexander  the  Greek  was 
divided.    The  little  horn  is  Antiochus. 

He  said,  '^I  saw  a  fight  between  a  ram  with  two 
horns  and  a  goat  with  one  horn.  The  goat  smote 
the  ram  and  broke  his  horns.  Then  the  goat's  one 
horn  grew  into  four,  and  out  of  one  of  them  came 
a  little  horn  raging  against  Judah  and  against  God, 
destroying  the  temple."  The  ram  is  the  Medo- 
Persian  empire.    The  goat  is  the  power  of  the 

223 


PROPHETS  OF  THE  FIFTH  CENTURY  AND  AFTER, 

Greeks,  whose  horn  is  Alexander:  the  four  horns 
are  the  four  principal  kingdoms  which  followed; 
the  little  horn  is  Antiochus. 

He  said,  ''The  angel  Gabriel  told  me  that  the 
seventy  years  of  exile  mean  seventy  weeks  of  years, 
i,  e.  seventy  multiplied  by  seven.  'Then,^  he  said, 
'there  shall  be  great  desolation  in  the  city  and  the 
temple,  and  the  sacrifice  shall  cease,  but  the  end 
shall  come  soon'."  When  the  Jews  figured  this 
out,  they  found  that  it  was  a  promise  of  deliver- 
ance out  of  great  tribulation  in  their  own  day. 
Only  a  few  years  more,  and  the  oppressor  should  be 
overthrown. 

Another  vision  of  Daniel  describes  the  long 
contention  between  the  Greek  kings  of  Egypt  and 
the  Greek  kings  of  Syria,  the  rise  of  Antiochus 
in  Syria,  his  unsuccessful  invasion  of  Egypt,  his 
persecution  of  the  Jews.  It  promises  the  death  of 
Antiochus  and  the  coming  of  the  Messianic  Age. 
"Blessed  is  he  that  waiteth.  Go  thou  thy  way 
till  the  end  be:  for  thou  shalt  rest,  and  stand  in 
thy  lot  at  the  end  of  the  days." 

Thus  the  hearts  of  the  afflicted  people  were  en- 
couraged, their  expectation  was  directed  to  the 
coming  of  the  great  prince,  the  Messiah,  who 

224 


DANIEL 

should  deliver  them  out  of  the  hands  of  their 
oppressors,  and  make  them  again  a  great  and 
happy  people.  They  were  in  this  expectation  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  book  of  Daniel, 
when  Christ  came  at  last. 


225 


NFW  TESTAMENT 
THE  GOSPELS 


Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John 


Jordaena 


THE  GOSPELS 

1.  St.  Mark. 

(1)  The  earliest  gospel. 

(2)  By  a  companion  of  St.  Peter. 

(3)  A  narrative  of  events. 

2.  St.  Matthew. 

(1)  Mark's  narrative  of  events,  into  which  is 

inserted : 

(2)  A  report  of  the  discourses  of  Jesus,  by  the 

apostle  Matthew. 
3    St.  Luke. 

(1)  Mark's  narrative  of  events,  into  which  is 

inserted : 

(2)  A  selection  from  the  discourses  of  Jesus  by 

the  apostle  Matthew,  and  also 

(3)  A  report  of  the  discourses  of  Jesus  from 

some  other  source;    edited  by  a  com- 
panion of  St.  Paul. 
d.  St.  John. 

(1)  The  latest  gospel. 

(2)  An  interpretation  of  the  teaching  and  per- 

son of  Jesus  by  the  apostle  John. 

^T^HE  word  Gospel  means  good  news.  The  good 
news  is  that  the  Great  Deliverer,  the  Mes- 
siah, promised  by  the  prophets,  has  at  last  come. 
The  four  gospels  are  four  accounts  of  His  life  and 
teaching. 

229 


THE  GOSPELS 

A  new  part  of  the  Bible  begins  with  these  books, 
because — ^with  the  book  of  Acts — they  contain 
the  history  of  a  new  revolution. 

The  Old  Testament  revolution,  in  the  days  of 
Rehoboam  and  Jeroboam,  separated  the  Bible 
people  into  the  kingdoms  of  Judah  and  of  Israel. 
They  were  still,  however,  of  one  race  and  of  one 
religion. 

The  New  Testament  revolution,  in  the  days  of 
Annas  the  high  priest  and  Paul  the  apostle,  sepa- 
ated  the  Bible  people  into  two  churches,  Jewish 
and  Christian,  different  in  religion  and  in  race. 

The  difference  between  the  Bible  people  who  con- 
tinued to  be  Jews  and  the  Bible  people  who  be- 
came Christians  began  in  a  difference  of  belief 
concerning  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  The  Christians 
believed  that  He  was  the  Messiah,  or,  as  they  said 
in  Greek,  the  Christ.    The  Jews  did  not  believe  it. 

They  did  not  believe  it  because  He  paid  so  httle 
heed  to  some  of  their  religious  customs — ^their 
church  rules — ^which  He  said  did  not  help  people 
to  be  truly  religious.  And  they  did  not  believe  it 
because  He  showed  no  interest  whatever  in  doing 
the  thing  which  they  thought  the  Christ,  when  He 
really  came,  would  do :  He  seemed  to  have  no  in- 
tention to  free  His  nation  from  their  foreign  rulers. 

230 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    FIRST  YEAR 

Indeed,  His  whole  concern  was  to  save  people  not 
from  taxes  or  from  Roman  tyranny,  but  from 
their  sins.  And  this  concern  He  felt,  not  as  re- 
garded the  Jews  only,  but  as  regarded  all  people, 
Jews  and  Gentiles. 

Thus  they  were  grievously  disappointed  when 
they  found  that  He  would  not  be  their  king;  and 
they  were  alarmed  when  they  found  that  His  in- 
fluence among  the  people  tended  to  diminish 
their  obedience  to  the  law,  and  to  break  down  the 
old  distinction  between  Jews  and  Gentiles.  In- 
stead of  accepting  him  as  their  Christ,  long-ex- 
pected and  sent  from  God,  they  arrested  Him, 
tried  and  condemned  Him  as  a  disturber  of  the 
public  peace,  and  as  making  a  false  and  blasphe- 
mous claim  to  be  the  Christ,  and  put  Him  to  death 
upon  a  cross. 

They  who  believed  that  He  was  indeed  the 
Christ  were  confirmed  in  their  faith  by  seeing  Him 
alive  after  His  death.  In  the  strength  of  this 
faith,  they  went  about  declaring  to  all  people  that 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  had  been  crucified,  was  the 
Christ,  and  that  He  had  come  to  save  not  only 
Jews  but  Gentiles,  and  to  save  both  Jews  and 
Gentiles  from  their  sins.  This,  they  said.  He  was 
able  to  do  because  God  was  in  Him,  and  His  words 

231 


THE  GOSPELS 

were  the  very  truth  of  God.  ^'God  was  in  Christ, 
reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself. '^  At  last,  in 
the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  know  of  a 
certainty,  they  said,  the  love  of  God  and  the  will 
of  God;  we  may  have,  if  we  will,  the  help  of  God 
here,  and  the  eternal  blessing  of  God  hereafter. 

This  is  the  good  news  which  gives  to  these  ac- 
counts of  the  life  of  Christ  a  name  so  full  of  hope 
and  joy.     They  contain  the  gospel  of  Salvation. 

Of  the  four  gospels,  the  first  to  be  written  in  its 
present  form  was  probably  that  of  St.  Mark.  This 
is  mainly  a  record  of  the  deeds  of  Christ,  rather 
than  of  His  words.  It  tells  how  He  went  about 
doing  good.  It  describes  particularly  how  He 
looked;  what  indignation  there  was  in  His  face 
one  time  when  He  saw  that  the  church  people 
cared  more  to  have  their  rules  kept  than  to  have 
a  sick  man  cured;  what  courage  He  showed  as  He 
started  to  go  to  Jerusalem  to  meet  His  enemies, 
so  that  they  who  walked  behind  Him  in  the  road 
were  amazed  to  see  Him.  Thus,  although  we  are 
not  told  much  that  He  said,  the  accounts  of  what 
He  did  are  so  clear  that  they  seem  to  be  given  by 
one  who  was  present  with  Him. 

St.  Mark's  gospel  contains  no  reference  to  the 
writer.    He  did  not  sign  it  with  his  name.    It  is 

232 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    FIRST  YEAR 

called  the  gospel  according  to  St.  Mark  because 
the  early  Christians  believed  that  St.  Mark  wrote 
it.  They  believed  also  that  St.  Mark  knew  what 
to  write  because  St.  Peter  told  him.  That  is  the 
account  of  the  making  of  this  gospel  which  was 
accepted  in  the  early  church,  and  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  it.  Mark  himself  was  probably  too 
young  to  have  been  a  disciple  during  the  ministry 
of  Jesus,  but  his  mother's  house  in  Jerusalem  was 
a  common  meeting  place  for  the  disciples.  It  is 
possible  that  the  Last  Supper  was  eaten  in  its 
upper  room.  It  is  certain  that  St.  Peter  was  there 
often.  Mark  was  thus  a  young  man  who  knew 
Peter  and  the  apostles,  the  nephew  of  Barnabas, 
the  companion  on  a  missionary  journey  of  Barnabas 
and  Paul. 

While  Mark  was  thus  writing  down  what  Peter 
told  him  about  the  deeds  of  Christ — or  perhaps 
earlier  than  that — an  apostle,  one  of  the  twelve, 
St.  Matthew,  was  making  a  record  of  His  words. 
He  was  preserving  for  his  own  use  and  for  the  good 
of  others  what  he  remembered  of  the  sermon  on 
the  mount,  and  of  the  parables  of  Jesus,  and  of  the 
other  teaching  to  which  he  had  listened.  The  lan- 
guage which  Jesus  spoke  is  called  Aramaic,  and 
was  the  form  of  Hebrew  which  was  then  used  in 

233 


THE  GOSPELS 

Palestine.  In  this  language,  Matthew  made  his 
record.  This  again,  like  the  authorities  of  the 
gospel  of  St.  Mark,  is  reported  by  the  early  Chris- 
tians. It  is  stated  plainly  by  a  second-century 
writer  named  Papias. 

The  gospel  according  to  St.  Matthew,  as  we 
have  it,  differs  in  two  respects  from  the  work  of 
Matthew:  it  has  been  translated  into  Greek;  and 
the  translator,  or  somebody  else,  has  added  to  it 
nearly  all  of  the  gospel  according  to  St.  Mark. 
What  we  have,  therefore,  in  this  book  is  an  account 
of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  as  recorded  by  Matthew, 
set  here  and  there  into  the  framework  of  the  doings 
of  Jesus  as  recorded  by  Mark. 

The  third  gospel  begins  with  a  statement  of  the 
purpose  and  method  of  the  writer.  Presently,  we 
find  that  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  begins  in  much 
the  same  way.  Thus  it  is  plain  that  these  two 
books  are  from  the  same  hand.  The  ancient  and 
general  belief  is  that  the  writer  was  St.  Luke,  who 
was  a  companion  of  St.  Paul.  Matthew  was  an 
apostle,  and  wrote  what  he  heard  with  his  own 
ears.  Mark  wrote  what  he  was  told  by  Peter  who 
saw  with  his  own  eyes.  Luke  is  somewhat  farther 
removed  from  the  events  which  he  describes,  for 
of  these  things  even  Paul  could  not  inform  him  of 

234 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    FIRST  YEAR 

his  own  experience.  So  Luke  says  at  the  beginning 
of  his  gospel  that  he  went  about  the  making  of  his 
book  in  the  manner  of  all  good  writers  of  history; 
he  read  whatever  he  could  find  written,  and  asked 
questions  of  all  who  had  original  knowledge. 

One  of  the  books  which  he  read  was  the  gospel 
of  St.  Mark,  for  he  makes  it  the  framework  of  his 
writing,  as  Matthew  did.  Probably  he  read  also 
the  gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  for  we  have  in  many 
places  the  words  of  Jesus  reported  just  as  Matthew 
reported  them.  In  addition  to  these  two  sources, 
he  had  a  third,  for  his  chapters  from  the  ninth  to 
the  eighteenth  contain  sayings  and  doings  of 
Jesus  which  are  not  found  in  either  Mark  or 
Matthew. 

In  the  first  three  gospels  the  order  of  events  is 
mostly  the  same,  being  derived  from  St.  Mark. 
The  scene  is  Galilee,  with  little  about  Jerusalem 
except  at  the  end.  Jesus  is  heard  speaking  in 
brief,  plain  sentences.  In  the  fourth  gospel  the 
order  of  events  is  different,  no  use  being  made 
of  St.  Mark.  The  scene  is  almost  entirely  in 
Jerusalem.  Jesus  is  heard  speaking  in  long,  mys- 
tical sentences.  This  gospel  bears  the  name  of 
St.  John. 

Two  things  are  clear  about  the  gospel  of  St. 

235 


THE  GOSPELS 

John.  One  is  that  the  report  of  the  sayings  of 
Jesus  is  made  in  much  the  same  manner  of  writing 
as  is  found  in  John^s  epistles.  That  means  that 
the  author  has  recorded  what  Jesus  said  not  always 
in  the  actual  words  of  Jesus,  but  often  in  his  own 
words.  The  other  fact  is  that  not  all  of  the  gospel 
was  written  by  St.  John;  the  last  two  verses, 
for  example,  are  not  by  him  but  about  him.  The 
fourth  gospel  is  probably  related  to  St.  John  as 
the  first  gospel  is  related  to  St.  Matthew.  The 
heart  of  the  first  gospel  is  Matthew^s  remembrance 
of  the  public  teaching  of  Jesus;  the  heart  of  the 
fourth  gospel  is  John's  remembrance  of  the  private 
teaching  of  Jesus.  To  each  of  these  gospels  other 
good  men  contributed  such  additions  as  they  were 
able  to  make. 

The  first  three  are  narrative  gospels;  they  con- 
tain accounts  of  what  Jesus  said  and  did.  The 
fourth  is  an  interpretive  gospel;  long  after  the 
crucifixion  and  the  resurrection,  as  the  person  and 
work  of  Jesus  were  seen  more  clearly  in  the  light 
of  thought  and  prayer,  the  disciple  who  knew  Him 
best  declared  their  inner  meaning.  He  tried  to 
impart  to  us  the  faith  in  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God 
which  filled  his  soul. 


236 


St.  Matthew 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:   FIRST  YEAR 

Matthew  1-4,  Mark  1:14,  Luke  1-3,  John  1-3. 

1.  The  birth  and  childhood  of  Jesus. 

(1)  The  angel  and  the  forerunner,  Luke  1  :l-25, 

57-80. 

(2)  The  angel  and  the  Virgin  Mother,  Luke 

1:26-56. 

(3)  The  angels  and  the  shepherds,  Luke  2  :l-40 

(4)  The  visit  of  the  Wise  Men,  Matthew  2. 

(5)  The  visit  to  the  temple,  Luke  2:41-52. 

2.  The  first  year  of  the  ministry. 

(1)  The  preaching  of  John  the  Baptist,  Mat- 

thew 3. 

(2)  The  baptism  of  Jesus,  Matthew  3:13-17. 

(3)  The  temptation,  Matthew  4:1-11. 

(4)  The  first  disciples,  John  1 :35-51. 

(5)  The  wedding  at  Cana,  John  2:1-12. 

(6)  The  expulsion  of  the  traders,  John  2 :13-25. 

(7)  The  interview  with  Nicodemus,  John  3:1 

-21. 

^T^HE  Romans  were  now  the  rulers  of  Palestine. 
The  revolt  of  Judas  Maccabeus  against  the 
Greek  kings  of  Syria  had  won  for  the  Jews  only  a 
brief  liberty;  but  the  oppression  of  the  Greeks  was 
never  again  so  heavy  as  in  the  days  of  Antiochus 

237 


THE  GOSPELS 

when  the  book  of  Daniel  was  being  written.  In 
the  sixty-third  year  before  the  birth  of  Christ, 
almost  exactly  a  hundred  years  after  the  book  of 
Daniel  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  faith  of  the  Jews, 
and  the  battles  of  Maccabeus  came  to  the  rescue 
of  their  freedom,  the  Roman  general  Pompey  con- 
quered Syria.  He  captured  Jerusalem.  He  en- 
tered the  temple,  and  made  his  way  into  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  expecting  to  discover  there  some  strange 
idol  and  was  amazed  to  find  it  empty.  Thus  the 
Romans  came  into  control. 

When  Christ  was  born,  Herod  was  called  the 
king  of  the  Jews,  but  he  ruled  only  by  permission 
of  the  Romans.  The  master  of  Palestine,  and  of 
all  the  countries  which  lay  about  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea,  was  Caesar  Augustus. 

The  birth  of  Christ  is  connected  by  St.  Luke  with 
the  taking  of  a  Roman  census.  This  enrollment 
brought  down  from  Nazareth  of  GaHlee  to  Beth- 
lehem of  Judea  a  descendant  of  David,  named 
Joseph,  with  Mary  his  wife.  The  family  of  Joseph 
was  better  than  his  fortunes,  for  he  was  a  poor  man 
who  earned  his  living  by  the  trade  of  a  carpenter. 
Thus,  however,  was  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Micah 
that  the  Great  Deliverer  should  come  not  from 
the  rich,  the  powerful,  the  dwellers  in  courts  and 

238 


^V^^^ 

^P 

«^^Hfl« 

■^^^PyHHH  '    "^^^^Jif^u^^ii^^iH,^^ 

4.  ^  ^^;mN^BHi 

H^lfli 

^^"                    inM|||||M^^H^^^B 

The  Nativity 


Hafmann 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    FIRST  YEAR 

cities,  but  from  the  plain  people :  he  should  be  like 
David,  when  he  came  to  the  throne  of  Israel  from 
the  pasture  where  he  tended  the  sheep.  In  David's 
own  town,  and  in  the  lineage  of  David,  Jesus 
Christ  was  born. 

The  gospels  tell  how  an  angel  announced  to  His 
mother  that  her  son  should  be  the  Saviour  of  His 
people,  and  how^  when  He  was  born  the  angels 
sang  in  the  sky  over  the  fields  where  shepherds 
watched  their  flocks.  But  when  the  shepherds 
came  to  see  the  child,  they  found  Him  cradled  in  a 
manger.  Joseph  and  Mary  had  come  to  Bethle- 
hem in  such  a  crowded  time  that  there  was  no  room 
for  them  at  the  inn,  and  thus  the  child  was  born 
in  a  stable. 

St.  Matthew's  gospel  says  that  out  of  the  east 
came  men  who  followed  a  star  until  it  brought 
them  to  the  child  in  Bethlehem,  to  whom  they 
gave  gifts,  gold  and  frankincense  and  myrrh. 
This  so  aroused  the  fear  of  Herod,  lest  a  new  king 
should  claim  his  throne,  that  Joseph  and  Mary 
took  the  child  and  fled  to  Egypt. 

St.  Luke's  gospel  says  that  when  at  last  they 
returned  to  Nazareth,  the  child  increased  in  wis- 
dom and  stature  and  in  favor  with  God  and  man. 

239 


THE  GOSPELS 

One  time,  when  He  was  twelve  years  old,  He  went 
with  His  parents  to  Jerusalem  to  the  Passover. 
On  their  return,  with  a  caravan  of  their  Nazareth 
neighbors,  they  looked  for  Him  at  the  end  of  the 
first  day's  journey,  and  when  they  could  not  find 
Him  they  went  back  to  Jerusalem.  There  they 
found  Him  in  the  temple,  listening  to  the  teachers 
of  the  law  of  God,  and  asking  them  questions. 

Nothing  else  is  told  us  of  His  life  up  to  the 
beginning  of  His  ministry,  but  this  is  enough  to 
show  us  that  the  lad  was  both  friendly  and  studious. 
It  was  not  thought  strange  that  He  should  be 
absent  a  whole  day  with  His  '' kinsfolk  and  ac- 
quaintance,''  i,  e.  with  his  boy  companions.  He 
thought  it  strange,  however,  that  when  they 
sought  Him  they  did  not  look  first  in  the  temple, 
knowing  that  there  they  would  be  most  likely  to 
find  Him.  His  spirit  was  at  the  same  time  social 
and  serious.  He  spoke,  one  day,  of  the  games 
which  they  used  to  play  in  the  Nazareth  streets, 
where  they  pretended  to  be  at  a  wedding  or  at  a 
funeral,  with  wedding  music  and  funeral  mourning, 
and  how  some  children  refused  to  play  at  all:  He 
was  not  of  that  kind.  But  it  is  plain  that  His 
deeper  interests  were  in  books, — the  histories  and 
poems  and  prophecies  which  are  bound  together 

240 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    FIRST  YEAR 

now  in  the  Old  Testament.    These  He  read,  and 
thought  upon,  and  learned  by  heart. 

Joseph  seems  to  have  died  during  this  time,  for 
there  is  no  more  mention  made  of  him.  In  that 
case,  Jesus  by  His  daily  labor  as  a  carpenter  would 
have  the  responsibihty  of  the  family  support. 
There  were  four  brothers,  named  James  and 
Joseph  and  Simon  and  Judas,  and  two  or  three 
sisters. 

The  ministry  of  Christ,  with  which  the  gospels 
of  St.  Mark  and  St.  John  begin,  is  divided  in  St. 
John^s  gospel  into  three  parts,  by  the  mention  of 
three  celebrations  of  the  Passover. 

Jesus  was  called  from  the  carpenter^s  bench  to 
the  ministry  by  the  preaching  of  John  the  Baptist. 
John  was  a  cousin  of  Jesus,  his  mother  Elizabeth 
being  a  kinswoman  of  Jesus'  mother  Mary.  His 
father  was  a  priest  named  Zacharias.  He  had 
early  devoted  himself  to  the  special  service  of  God, 
and  had  gone  to  live  in  the  wilderness  to  prepare 
his  soul  by  prayer  and  fasting.  More  and  more  it 
was  made  clear  to  him,  in  his  long  solitary  days, 
that  the  time  must  be  at  hand  when  the  Great 
Deliverer  should  come.  He  thought  of  the  sins  and 
sorrows  of  the  people.  He  saw  them  under  the 
power  of  the  Romans,  ruled  by  princes  and  priests 

241 


THE  GOSPELS 

such  as  those  who  had  stirred  the  indignation  of  ; 

the  old  prophets.      Augustus  had  been  followed  ] 

on  the  throne  of  the  Roman  world  by  Tiberius.  i 

The  Herod  of  the  time  of  Jesus^  birth  was  dead,  I 

but  Herod  his  son  was  the  ruler  of  Galilee  and  \ 

Pontius  Pilate  was  the  ruler  of  Judea.  | 

Jesus  was  thirty  years  old  when  John  began  to 

preach.    John  stood  by  the  river  Jordan,  dressed  \ 
like  Elijah,  in  a  cloak  of  cameFs  skin,  and  spoke  of 
their  sins,  to  all  who  came  to  hear  him.    Publicans 

came,  who  collected  the  Roman  taxes;    soldiers  ] 

came,  who  kept  the  Roman  rule  over  the  people;  j 

Pharisees  came,  who  taught  the  law  of  God  in  ] 

meeting-houses    called    synagogues;      Sadducees  i 
came,  who  conducted  the  worship  of  God  in  the 

temple;     wise  and  unwise,  good  and  bad,  they  i 
came;     and  to  them  all  John  spoke  with  great 
plainness.    '^I  am  not  the  Christ,^^  he  said,  when 
they  asked  him  if  he  was  himself  the  Great  Deliv- 
erer.   "But  the  Christ  is  at  hand.    Even  now  He 

stands  unknown  among  you.'^    He  told  them  that  , 

in  order  to  be  able  to  know  Christ  and  follow  Him  I 

they  must  repent  of  their  sins,  and  those  who  | 

repented  he  washed  in  the  river,  baptizing  them  as  | 

a  sign  that  they  had  clean  hearts.    Thus  he  was  j 

called  John  the  Baptist.  j 

242  ! 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:  FIRST  YEAR 

Among  those  who  came  to  hear  this  preacher 
was  Jesus.  As  he  Hstened,  a  new  light  shone  in 
His  soul.  A  voice  spoke  which  He  alone  heard. 
The  voice  said,  ''Thou  art  the  Son  of  God."  He 
knew  that  that  meant  that  He  was  to  be  the  de- 
liverer long-expected,  the  Saviour  of  the  people. 
As  He  was  baptized,  the  sky  shone  above  Him, 
and  the  blessing  of  God  came  upon  Him. 

After  that.  He  returned  no  more  to  the  trade  of 
the  carpenter.  He  saw  that  He  was  called  to  a 
different  kind  of  work.  Immediately,  He  went 
away  into  a  desert  place,  and  there  spent  many 
days  considering  this  great  matter,  and  making 
ready  for  His  new  duties.  He  determined  to  give 
Himself  wholly  to  this  ministry,  without  thinking 
of  His  own  interests,  or  providing  for  His  own 
needs.  "I  might  turn  stones  into  bread,"  He  said, 
''to  feed  myself,  but  I  will  not."  He  determined 
to  go  about  His  mission  quietly,  relying  on  the 
truth  rather  than  on  any  signs  from  the  sky.  "I 
might  compel  men  to  believe  in  me,"  He  said,  "by 
casting  myself  from  the  roof  of  the  temple,  and 
coming  down  into  the  midst  of  the  people,  carried 
on  the  wings  of  angels,  but  I  will  not."  He  deter- 
mined to  make  no  compromise,  to  use  no  force  nor 
pretense,  to  take  no  account  of  what  the  people 

243 


THE  GOSPELS 

liked,  but  to  tell  them  plainly  the  will  of  God, 
whether  they  liked  it  or  not.  ''I  might  make 
alliance  with  the  devil,''  He  said,  "and  thus  gain 
all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of 
them,  but  I  will  not."  Having  made  these  im- 
portant principles  perfectly  plain  to  Himself,  He 
came  out,  and  began  His  ministry. 

He  gathered  about  Him  a  little  group  of  faithful 
friends:  first  two  fishermen  from  the  Lake  of 
Gahlee,  Andrew  and  Peter,  who  had  come  down, 
like  Jesus,  to  hear  John  the  Baptist  preach.  These 
He  found  when  He  came  out  of  the  desert.  With 
them  He  returned  to  Galilee,  and  found  two  more 
disciples,  James  and  John,  partners  of  Andrew  and 
Peter.  After  these,  two  others  joined  the  company, 
Philip  and  Nathaniel. 

Nathaniel  lived  in  Cana,  near  Nazareth. 
Neither  Nazareth  nor  Cana  was  far  distant  from 
the  lake.  It  is  likely  that  Jesus  knew  all  of  those 
young  men  before.  Thus,  when  there  was  a 
wedding  in  Cana,  they  were  all  invited,  and  they 
went  together.  It  is  interesting  to  remember  that 
the  first  occasion  to  which  Christ  took  His  disciples 
was  this  cheerful  festivity.  It  shows  how  He 
entered  into  natural  life,  not  holding  Himself 
apart.    He  came  not  like  John  the  Baptist  dwelling 

244 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:  FIRST  YEAR 

in  the  wilderness,  and  wearing  a  strange  dress,  but, 
as  He  had  determined,  Hke  other  men,  quietly  and 
informally,  increasing  the  joy  of  life.  At  the  wed- 
ding in  Cana,  St.  John  says,  He  changed  water 
into  wine.  This  passes  our  understanding,  but  we 
can  understand  well  enough  that  such  an  act  was  a 
symbol  of  all  His  purpose,  to  make  the  most  com- 
mon life  as  rich  as  the  rarest  wine. 

Then  came  the  Passover,  and  He  went  to  Jeru- 
salem. Herod  the  Great  had  rebuilt  the  temple, 
making  it  splendid  again,  as  in  the  days  of  Solomon. 
Indeed,  the  court  about  it  was  twice  as  large  as  it 
had  been  before.  But  this  court  was  now  a  scene 
of  disorder.  At  the  time  of  the  Passover  it  was 
changed  to  a  great  market.  In  booths  on  all  sides 
men  were  selling  sheep  and  oxen  and  doves  for 
sacrifice,  and  changing  Roman  money  into  Jewish 
that  it  might  be  paid  into  the  temple  treasury. 
It  was  a  place  not  of  prayer  but  of  merchandise. 

Against  this  profanation  Jesus  protested.  It 
was  His  first  public  act.  He  showed  Himself  to 
the  people  as  one  who  stood  for  God  against  wrong- 
doing. He  took  a  whip  of  small  cords  and  drove 
the  traders  out.  It  was  at  once  plain,  however, 
that  neither  the  rulers  not  the  people  were  inclined 
to  join  themselves  to  this  new  prophet,  or  to  take 

245 


THE  GOSPELS 

His  part  in  reforming  public  abuses.  The  traders 
were  very  angry;  the  rulers,  who  profited  by  the 
traffic  in  the  temple,  while  they  did  not  venture 
to  arrest  Him,  showed  that  they  resented  His 
interference.  The  people  seem  to  have  applauded 
Him,  but  not  very  heartily. 

Only  one  man  is  remembered  to  have  sought  out 
Jesus,  and  to  have  shown  some  disposition  to 
become  a  disciple.  His  name  was  Nicodemus,  and 
he  was  a  very  important  person  indeed,  being  a 
member  of  the  Sanhedrin,  the  senate  of  the  Jews. 
But  he  wished  to  keep  his  discipleship  secret,  and 
Jesus  would  not  receive  him  on  those  terms. 
Jesus  said  that  if  Nicodemus  really  wished  to  be 
His  disciple,  he  must  so  change  his  whole  Hfe  that 
it  would  be  like  being  born  again. 

Thus  closed  the  first  period  of  the  ministry  of 
Christ.  He  withdrew  from  Jerusalem  and  returned 
to  Galilee. 


246 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    SECOND 
YEAR 

Matthew  5:1-15:20,  Mark  1:15-7:22,  Luke  4:1-9:17,  John 
d-6. 

1.  The  ministry  of  mercy. 

(1)  The  sample  day,  Mark  1:21-39. 

(2)  The  man  with  the  palsy  2:1-12. 

(3)  The  man  with  the  withered  hand  3:1-6. 

(4)  The  man  with  the  legion  5:1-19. 

(5)  The  ruler's  daughter  5:21-43. 

2.  The  ministry  of  truth. 

(1)  Among  the  Samaritans,  John  4. 

(2)  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  Matthew  5-7. 

(3)  The  Sermon  of  Parables,  Matthew  13. 

(4)  The  Crisis  at  Capernaum. 

o.  The  miracle,  the  sermon,  the  deser- 
tion of  the  disciples,  John  6. 
6.  The  opposition  of  the  Pharisees,  Mat- 
thew 15:1-20. 

npHE  Holy  Land,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  was  in 
three  main  divisions.  In  the  south  was  Judea, 
in  the  place  of  the  old  kingdom  of  Judah;  in  the 
middle  was  Samaria,  in  the  place  of  the  old  king- 
dom of  Israel;  in  the  north  was  Galilee.  Thus 
when  Jesus,  after  the  first  Passover,  went  from 

247 


THE  GOSPELS 

Judea  into  Galilee,  He  passed  through  Samaria. 
He  might  have  taken  another  road  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Jordan,  through  the  Jewish  district  of 
Perea.    But  the  Samaritan  road  was  more  direct. 

For  many  years,  the  Jews  had  had  no  dealings 
with  the  Samaritans.  These  people  were  de- 
scended from  ancestors  who  were  half  Jew  and 
half  Assyrian.  As  we  have  seen,  the  Jews  who  re- 
turned from  the  exile,  pure  in  blood  and  in  re- 
ligion, declined  to  accept  their  friendship.  Thus 
they  became  enemies.  When  the  Jews  wished  to 
call  a  man  a  particularly  mean  name,  they  called 
him  a  Samaritan. 

Christ  began  the  second  year  of  His  ministry 
by  disregarding  this  old  prejudice.  He  walked  up 
through  Samaria,  stopped  to  rest  at  Jacob's  well, 
near  Shechem,  talked  there  with  a  Samaritan 
woman,  and  stayed  for  two  days  in  that  town. 
This  was  very  different  from  the  common  spirit 
of  hatred  for  all  foreign  people,  such  as  we  found 
in  the  books  of  Esther  and  of  Jonah. 

The  district  of  Galilee  had  no  place  in  the  Old' 
Testament.  Even  so  late  as  a  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  it  was  inhabited  mostly  by  Gentile 
people — Canaanites,  who  still  held  the  lands  of 
their  forefathers;  Syrians,  who  had  come  in  when 

248 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    SECOND  YEAR 

Damascus  was  destroyed;  Arabs  from  the  eastern 
deserts;  and  Greek  settlers,  who  had  followed  the 
armies  of  Alexander.  This  land  the  Jews  con- 
quered in  104  B.  C.  and  the  people  became  Jews 
in  their  manners  and  customs  and  rehgion.  Gal- 
ilee had  on  the  east  the  Phoenician  country  of 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  down  to  Mt.  Carmel,  and  on  the 
west  the  Jordan  and  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  and  it  ex- 
tended on  the  south  to  the  river  Kishon  which  ran 
through  the  Great  Plain.  Here  was  Nazareth, 
overlooking  the  plain;  Cana  was  a  few  miles  north 
of  Nazareth.  The  whole  district  was  only  about 
thirty  miles  from  east  to  west,  and  forty  miles 
from  north  to  south.  About  twenty  miles  from 
Nazareth,  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  was  the  chief  town  of  the  province,  Caper- 
naum. 

Returning  now  to  this  country  in  which  He  had 
been  brought  up,  He  settled  in  Capernaum,  and  in 
that  place  and  in  the  near  neighborhood  He  spent 
the  whole  of  the  second  year. 

The  record  of  one  sample  day  shows  what  a 
crowded  year  it  was.  It  was  a  Sabbath,  and  He 
spent  the  morning,  according  to  His  custom,  in 
the  synagogue.  There  was  a  man  in  the  congre- 
gation who  had  an  evil  spirit;  he  was  what  we  call 

249 


THE  GOSPELS 

a  crazy  man.  Jesus  rebuked  the  evil  spirit,  and 
the  man  was  cured;  his  better  self  got  the  control 
of  his  will.  After  the  service  Jesus  went  to  dine 
at  the  house  of  Peter  and  Andrew,  taking  James 
and  John  with  him,  and  finding  Peter's  wife's 
mother  sick  in  bed,  having  a  fever.  He  laid  His 
hand  upon  her,  and  immediately  the  fever  left 
her.  That  evening  at  sunset,  the  street  before  the 
house  was  filled  with  people  who  had  brought 
their  sick  that  He  might  heal  them,  and  He  healed 
many.  Thus  passed  that  busy  day,  and  many 
others  like  it. 

Thus  Christ  had  power  to  heal  the  sick.  Wher- 
ever He  went,  the  bhnd  and  lame  and  mute  and 
deaf,  those  who  were  palsied  in  their  limbs  and 
those  who  were  diseased  in  mind,  even  the  lepers, 
were  brought  to  Him.  This,  however,  was  not 
His  main  interest.  Concerned  as  He  was  for  the 
sick  in  body.  He  was  far  more  concerned  for  the 
sick  in  soul.  He  saw  that  the  worst  thing  in  the 
world  is  not  pain,  but  sin.  Thus,  although  His 
pity  led  Him  to  use  His  singular  healing  power.  He 
often  did  so  in  private,  and  told  those  who  were 
healed  not  to  talk  about  it.  He  was  unwilling  to 
be  thought  of  merely  as  a  doer  of  wonders  or  to  be 
followed  by  a  crowd  of  curious  persons.     Some- 

250 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    SECOND  YEAR 

times  He  was  so  pursued  by  such  crowds  that  He 
kept  away  from  towns,  and  went  into  the  quiet 
country. 

Even  when  he  healed  the  sick,  He  did  so  not  as 
in  the  fairy  stories  by  a  touch  of  a  magic  wand, 
but  by  an  appeal  to  the  will  and  faith  of  those  who 
needed  healing.  They  must  help  Him  or  else  He 
could  do  nothing.  One  time  He  went  to  Nazareth 
and  preached  in  the  synagogue  whose  services  He 
had  attended  since  His  childhood.  But  the  people 
who  had  known  Him  all  those  years  could  not 
believe  that  their  old  neighbor,  whom  they  had 
employed  to  mend  their  chairs  and  tables,  and  by 
whose  side  they  had  done  their  work  and  lived 
their  lives,  was  a  Great  Person.  They  could  not 
think  of  Him  as  a  prophet,  and  they  did  not  dream 
that  He  was  the  Christ.  They  said,  however, 
'^Let  us  see  if  He  can  do  here  some  of  those  won- 
ders which  He  is  reported  to  have  done  in  Caper- 
naum. Let  us  see  if  He  can  work  a  miracle."  But 
being  thus  asked  to  work  a  miracle  to  prove  His 
greatness,  in  the  face  of  the  disbelief  of  the  people, 
He  could  do  no  mighty  work  among  them.  Then 
they  were  angry,  and  thrust  Him  out  of  the  syna- 
gogue, and  out  of  the  town.  Even  his  own  brothers 
did  not  believe  in  Him,  especially  when  He  began 

251 


THE  GOSPELS 

to  do  and  say  things  which  were  quite  different 
from  the  common  custom  and  teaching  of  the  day. 
They  tried  to  stop  Him,  saying,  '^He  is  beside 
Himself." 

Thus  Jesus  found  Himself  in  the  midst  of  those 
who  did  not  understand  Him.  Some,  indeed, 
began  already  to  think  that  He  might  be  the 
Christ,  and  that  He  might  bring  to  pass  that  king- 
dom of  God  for  which  they  prayed.  But  they  de- 
sired a  kingdom  such  as  Judas  Maccabeus  had 
won  from  the  Greeks,  to  be  gained  by  a  victorious 
army  and  to  be  ruled  by  princes  sitting  on  thrones. 
They  thought  that  Jesus  might  be  able  to  bring  in 
such  a  kingdom  because  He  could  do  such  mighty 
works. 

Then  one  time  Jesus  went  up  on  one  of  the  hills 
beside  Capernaum  and  spent  the  whole  night  in 
prayer,  and  in  the  morning  when  a  great  crowd 
met  Him  as  He  came  down,  He  chose  twelve  of 
them  to  be  His  nearest  friends,  and  called  them 
apostles;  meaning  that  He  intended  to  teach  them 
and  send  them  out  to  teach  others.  And  then,  ad- 
dressing the  multitude,  He  told  them  His  idea  of 
the  kingdom  which  Christ  when  He  came  would 
establish.    He  preached  the  sermon  on  the  Mount. 

You  have  the  commandments,  He  said,  but 

252 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    SECOND  YEAR 

you  think  you  are  keeping  them  well  enough  when 
you  do  not  break  them  with  your  hands.  The 
truth  is  that  the  commandments  are  truly  obeyed 
only  when  they  are  obeyed  in  your  hearts.  Thus 
the  words  ^'Thou  shalt  not  kill"  are  to  be  under- 
stood as  forbidding  every  unbrotherly  thought. 
And  the  words  ^'Thou  shalt  not  commit  adul- 
tery" are  to  be  understood  not  only  as  command- 
ing men  not  to  steal  their  neighbors^  wives,  but  as 
forbidding  every  kind  of  impurity,  even  in  the 
secret  heart. 

You  have  your  religious  customs.  He  said,  alms- 
giving and  prayer  and  fasting — ^but  these  are  of 
no  good  in  themselves.  Their  value  depends  on 
what  they  mean.  If  they  are  done  to  get  the 
praise  of  men,  they  may  get  that,  but  nothing 
more.  God  praises  only  those  whose  alms  and 
prayers  and  fasts  are  done  for  His  own  sake.  God 
cares  for  the  heart.  You  must  have  a  better 
righteousness.  He  said,  than  the  people  whose 
goodness  is  only  a  church  goodness,  and  consists 
in  attending  services  and  offering  sacrifices  and 
keeping  the  customs  of  religion.  The  true  good- 
ness consists  in  loving  our  neighbors,  even  in  loving 
our  enemies,  in  serving  those  who  are  in  need,  and 
in  living  in  the  thought  of  the  presence  of  God. 

253 


THE  GOSPELS 

Another  time,  beside  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  He 
preached  a  Sermon  of  Parables.  He  said  that  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven  is  the  most  precious  thing  in 
the  world,  like  a  priceless  pearl;  and  that  though 
the  true  idea  of  it  is  now  held  by  a  few  humble 
people  yet  it  shall  grow  like  a  mustard  seed;  and 
that  this  growth  shall  be  as  quiet  a  progress  as  the 
working  of  the  yeast  in  the  meal;  and  that,  all 
along,  many  shall  misunderstand  it  and  refuse  to 
accept  it.  See  that  man,  He  said,  as  He  scatters 
the  grain;  some  falls  on  the  hard  path,  and  the 
birds  eat  it;  some  falls  among  weeds  and  they 
choke  it;  some  falls  on  the  shallow  soil  and  withers 
because  it  has  no  root;  some  falls  on  good  ground, 
and  brings  forth  a  good  harvest.  It  is  like  the 
preaching  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

As  the  year  drew  to  a  close,  and  the  time  of  the 
Passover  came  again,  Jesus  heard  that  John  the 
Baptist  had  been  put  to  death.  He  had  rebuked 
Herod  for  taking  his  brother's  wife,  and  Herod 
had  put  him  in  prison,  and  at  last,  urged  by  his 
wife,  had  caused  him  to  be  beheaded.  It  showed 
what  a  true  prophet  might  expect.  Jesus  took  the 
twelve,  and  went  across  the  Sea  of  Galilee  to  a 
quiet  place,  where  they  might  rest  and  where  He 
might  have  time  to  think.     To  this  place  there 

254 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    SECOND  YEAR 

came  a  great  crowd,  whom  He  first  taught  and 
then  fed  with  loaves  and  fishes.  Among  these 
men,  seeing  the  mighty  power  of  Jesus,  a  great 
cry  arose  calling  Him  to  be  their  king.  ''Come," 
they  cried,  "and  lead  us  against  Herod  and 
against  Rome.  Your  life  is  in  peril;  Herod  will 
kill  you  as  he  has  killed  John.  Come,  begin  the 
kingdom  of  God  here,  with  us.'' 

When  He  refused  this  demand,  and  the  next 
day  in  the  synagogue  preached  a  long  sermon  in 
which  He  said  a  great  deal  about  God  and  nothing 
about  Csesar,  and  showed  plainly  that  the  King- 
dom of  God  for  which  He  was  working  was  a  king- 
dom not  of  conquest  nor  of  worldly  power  but  of  the 
truth,  they  were  greviously  disappointed.  From 
that  time,  the  number  of  His  disciples  decreased. 
A  great  multitude  turned  back  and  walked  no 
more  with  Him.  He  feared  for  a  moment  that 
even  the  twelve  would  go  away,  but  they  were 
loyal  in  the  midst  of  the  great  desertion. 

At  the  same  time,  the  religious  teachers  and 
leaders,  especially  those  of  Jerusalem,  set  them- 
selves in  opposition  to  Him. 

Indeed,  He  had  first  set  Himself  in  opposition 
to  them.  In  addition  to  the  old  simple  rule  of 
doing  no  work  on  the  Sabbath,  they  had  made  a 

255 


THE  GOSPELS 

hundred  rules  about  the  keeping  of  the  day,  which 
made  it  a  burden  rather  than  a  rest  and  joy.  These 
rules  He  disregarded.  Also,  to  their  distinctions 
between  things  clean  and  things  unclean,  He  paid 
no  attention.  For  example,  when  they  came  in 
from  the  street  they  washed  their  hands,  not  to 
get  them  clean  as  we  do,  but  to  wash  off  bad  luck. 
This  He  declined  to  do.  As  for  food.  He  said  that 
men  are  defiled  not  by  eating  any  special  kinds 
of  meat,  but  by  saying  bad  or  unkind  or  untrue 
words.  On  account  of  such  teaching,  they  held 
that  He  was  a  breaker  of  the  laws  of  religion. 

Now  there  was  a  belief  among  the  people  that 
if  once  the  law  was  perfectly  kept  all  the  promises 
of  the  Old  Testament  would  be  fulfilled;  the  Jews 
would  immediately  become  a  great  and  rich  and 
prosperous  nation.  They  reasoned  in  this  way: 
they  said,  '^  We  are  the  special  people  of  God,  and 
the  special  people  of  God  ought  to  be  blessed  with 
all  good  things,  but  we  are  not  blessed  with  all 
good  things,  something  therefore  must  be  the 
matter.  What  is  it  which  withholds  the  blessing  of 
God?  It  is  our  disobedience  to  the  law."  And  by 
the  law  they  meant  not  only  what  was  written  in 
the  Bible,  but  all  their  added  rules.  Thus  a 
breaker  of  the  laws  of  religion,  and  especially  one 

256 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    SECOND  YEAR 

who  was  encouraging  the  people  to  break  the  laws, 
was  a  public  enemy.  The  Pharisees,  who  had 
this  belief  about  the  law,  accounted  Jesus  as  a 
public  enem}^    They  talked  about  killing  Him. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  as  the  Passover  time 
approached,  and  people  began  to  start  out  for 
Jerusalem,  Christ  took  His  apostles  and  went  in 
quite  a  different  direction.  It  was  not  only  unsafe 
for  Him  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  but  even  in  Galilee 
His  life  was  in  danger.  With  His  followers  fallen 
away,  and  His  enemies  daily  increasing  He  left 
Galilee  and  sought  safety  for  a  time  among  the 
Gentiles. 


257 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST :   THIRD  YEAR 

Matthew  15:2-28:20,  Mark  7:23-16:20,  Luke  9:18-24:53, 
John  7-21. 

1.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  Mark 

7:24-30. 

2.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Caesarea  Philippi. 

(1)  The  Confession,  Matthew  16:13-23. 

(2)  The  Transfiguration,  Matthew  17:1-21. 

3.  In  the  Decapolis,  Mark  7:31-37,  Matthew  15:29 

32. 

4.  In  Perea,  Luke  9:51-18:34. 

(1)  The  sending  of  the  seventy,  10. 

(2)  The  parables  of  the  Good  Samaritan  (10), 

the  Prodigal  Son  (15),  the  Rich  Man  and 
Lazarus  (16). 

5.  In  Jerusalem. 

(1)  At  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  John  7,  8. 

(2)  At  the  Feast  of  Dedication,  John  9,  10. 

6.  The  raising  of  Lazarus,  John  11. 

7.  The  Holy  Week. 

(1)  The  entry  into  Jerusalem. 

(2)  The  days  of  teaching. 

(3)  The  Last  Supper. 

(4)  The  prayer  and  arrest  in  the  garden. 

(5)  The  trial  before  Caiphas  and  Pilate. 

(6)  The  crucifixion. 

(7)  The  resurrection. 

258 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    THIRD  YEAR 

npHE  third  and  last  year  of  the  ministry  of  Christ 
was  spent,  for  the  most  part,  outside  of  either 
Judea  or  Galilee.  He  was  in  the  lands  to  the  north, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  and  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Caesarea  Philippi.  He  was  in 
the  lands  to  the  east,  in  the  Decapolis  and  in  Perea. 
St.  John,  in  his  gospel,  reports  two  visits  to  Jeru- 
salem. 

Leaving  Galilee,  Jesus  went  first  toward  Tyre 
and  Sidon.  His  purpose  was  not  only  to  escape 
for  a  time  from  His  enemies,  but  to  get  opportunity 
for  long  and  quiet  talks  with  His  disciples.  He 
saw  that  the  days  of  His  own  life  were  numbered; 
it  was  plain  to  Him  that  He  must  presently  meet 
the  fate  of  John  the  Baptist.  He  wished,  there- 
fore, to  prepare  the  twelve  to  carry  on  His  work. 
Thus  they  walked  over  the  high  hills  and  through 
the  long  valleys.  Stopping,  however,  one  day,  to 
rest  in  that  strange  land.  He  was  recognized  by  a 
woman  who  was  in  great  trouble.  Either  she  had 
seen  Him  before,  or,  more  likely,  there  was  some- 
thing uncommonly  fine  and  noble  in  His  appear- 
ance. He  could  not  be  hid.  She  begged  Him, 
therefore,  to  heal  her  daughter.  But  He  hesitated. 
The  woman  was  a  heathen.  She  believed  in  Baal 
and  Astarte,  the  gods  of  the  Canaanites;  or  in 

259 


THE  GOSPELS 

Zeus  and  Ares  and  Athene,  the  gods  of  the  Greeks. 
The  ministry  of  Christ  had  thus  far  been  only  to 
people  of  the  Bible  religion.  His  plan  was  not  to 
go  about  and  preach  the  gospel  to  a  great  many 
people,  speaking  once  or  twice  in  a  place,  but 
rather  to  teach  a  few  people  thoroughly,  thus 
giving  the  truth  a  strong  root  from  which  to  grow. 
It  was  His  prayer  that  the  Old  Testament  people, 
being  first  persuaded,  might  then  teach  the  world. 
Thus  the  woman's  cry  called  Him  to  change  His 
plan.  He  stopped  to  think — then  He  turned  to 
her  in  compassion  and  healed  her  child. 

North  of  Galilee,  at  the  source  of  the  Jordan, 
was  the  city  of  Caesarea  Philippi.  It  was  named 
in  part  for  Augustus  Caesar,  in  whose  honor  it 
was  built,  and  in  part  for  Philip,  a  brother  of 
Herod  of  Galilee,  who  built  it.  Situated  in  the 
midst  of  the  mountains  and  at  the  beginning  of 
the  river,  the  place  had  been  held  sacred  from  the 
earliest  times.  The  Canaanites  had  a  shrine  there. 
There  the  Israelite  tribe  of  Dan  had  made  a 
sanctuary.  The  Greeks  had  consecrated  it  to 
Pan,  their  god  of  nature.  The  Romans  had  erected 
there  a  statue  to  Augustus,  their  god  of  the  state. 
As  Christ  and  the  twelve  passed  that  way,  He  said 
to  them,  ''Whom  do  men  say  that  I  am?''    And 

260 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    THIRD  YEAR 

when  they  answered  that  some  said  that  He  was 
Elijah  or  one  of  the  old  prophets  come  to  life  again, 
He  said,  "Whom  say  ye  that  I  am?^*  Peter 
answered,  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
Living  God."  Thus,  in  that  place  of  many  re- 
ligions, there  was  spoken  aloud  for  the  first  time 
the  truth  on  which  the  Christian  religion  is 
founded.  "On  this  rock,"  Christ  said,  "I  will 
build  my  church."  On  the  rock  of  the  loyalty  of 
the  men  who  believed  in  Him  when  other  disciples 
had  fallen  away,  and  on  the  rock  of  the  truth 
which  they  believed.  He  told  them  plainly  that 
He  was  indeed  the  Christ,  who  had  come  to  save 
the  world. 

A  few  days  after,  taking  three  of  the  disciples. 
He  climbed  a  neighboring  hill  and  spent  the  night 
in  prayer.  They  saw  Him  as  He  prayed.  So 
exalted  was  His  spirit,  so  conscious  of  the  divine 
presence,  so  directly  did  He  speak  to  God,  that 
when  they  described  it  afterwards,  they  said,  "He 
was  transfigured.  His  face  shone  as  the  sun. 
Moses  and  Elijah  stood  beside  Him,  and  God 
spoke  from  the  sky."  Then  sleep,  as  a  thick 
cloud,  fell  upon  them.  In  the  morning.  He 
brought  them  down  and  resumed  His  ministry  of 
mercy;   but  from  that  time  He  spoke  again  and 

261 


THE  GOSPELS 

again  of  the  tragedy  which  lay  before  Him.  "I 
must  go  to  Jerusalem/'  He  said,  ^'and  there  be 
seized  by  priests  and  scribes,  and  be  put  to  pain, 
and  at  last  be  killed." 

The  Decapolis  was  a  district  of  ten  cities,  east 
of  the  Jordan.  It  had  been  taken  into  possession 
by  the  Greeks  in  the  days  of  Alexander,  and 
though  now  under  the  rule  of  the  Romans,  it  was 
still  inhabited  by  Greeks.  The  buildings  were 
Greek,  the  language  was  Greek,  the  religion  was 
Greek.  Near  Gadara,  one  of  the  ten  cities,  Jesus 
had  healed  a  man  who  had,  he  said,  a  whole  legion 
of  devils  in  him.  Jesus  had  cast  them  out;  and 
the  man  had  published  this  wonder  throughout 
all  Decapolis.  Coming  now  again  into  this 
country,  they  brought  to  Him  a  deaf-and-dumb 
man,  and  He  healed  him.  And  great  multitudes 
came  to  Him — ^heathen  people  like  the  woman  of 
the  district  of  Tyre  and  Sidon — Shaving  with  them 
the  lame  and  the  blind,  and  the  dumb,  and  the 
maimed,  and  cast  them  down  at  Jesus'  feet,  and 
He  healed  them.  And  they  glorified  the  God  of 
Israel.  Thus  He  showed  them  the  truth  of  the 
true  religion  not  by  arguing  with  them  but  by 
doing  good  to  them. 

South  of  Decapolis  was  Perea.    There  He  came 

262 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    THIRD  YEAR 

again  into  a  country  of  the  Jews.  From  Tyre,  a 
city  of  Phoenicians,  from  Caesarea  a  city  of 
Romans,  from  Decapolis  a  land  of  Greeks,  He  re- 
turned to  His  own  people.  He  entered  there  upon 
a  mission  about  which  we  know  little,  except  that 
He  prepared  for  it  by  sending  seventy  disciples 
to  make  ready  for  Him.  For  a  time,  crowds  fol- 
lowed Him  as  before.  St.  Luke  has  preserved  for 
us  a  record  of  some  of  His  Perean  teachings.  He 
spoke  much  in  parables.  To  the  parables  of  the 
kingdom,  which  He  had  given  His  disciples  in 
Gahlee,  He  added,  in  Perea,  the  parables  of  the 
brotherhood,  teaching  a  love  and  service  which 
took  no  account  of  either  race  or  religion:  the 
Good  Samaritan,  the  Prodigal  Son,  the  Rich  Man 
and  Lazarus. 

It  was  perhaps  during  this  Perean  residence  that 
He  made  the  two  visits  to  Jerusalem  which  are 
described  in  the  gospel  of  St.  John.  The  feast  of 
Tabernacles  came  about  the  time  of  our  Thanks- 
giving Day,  and  commemorated  both  the  journey 
of  the  Hebrews  through  the  wilderness  in  the  days 
of  Moses,  and  the  gratitude  of  the  people  year  by 
year  for  the  harvests  of  the  land.  The  feast  of  the 
Dedication  came  about  the  time  of  our  Christmas 
Day,  and  commemorated  the  restoration  of  the 

263 


THE  GOSPELS 

temple  by  Judas  Maccabeus.  In  the  midst  of  the 
people  assembled  at  these  feasts,  Jesus  spoke  con- 
cerning Himself.  He  said  little  in  regard  to  His 
being  the  Christ.  His  words  were  now  far  wider 
in  their  meaning.  He  went  beyond  the  idea  of 
fulfilling  their  expectation  of  a  Great  Deliverer  who 
should  devote  Himself  mainly  to  the  good  of  the 
Jews,  and  spoke  of  Himself  as  the  Savior  of  all 
men.  ''I  am  the  light  of  the  world,'^  He  said. 
He  spoke  sentences  of  deep  mystery:  ^'I  and  my 
Father  are  one.''  This  the  Jews  understood  to  be 
a  claim  to  a  nature  more  than  human,  to  a  kinship 
with  God.  Twice,  therefore,  they  took  up  stones 
to  kill  Him;  but  He  still  escaped  alive. 

At  last,  the  Passover  came  again.  He  must 
present  Himself  in  Jerusalem  for  one  final  effort 
to  change  the  minds  and  lives  of  the  people.  He 
must  tell  them  again  that  the  true  kingdom  of 
God  consists  not  in  the  reign  of  any  king  but  in 
obedience,  of  hand  and  heart,  to  God's  command- 
ments. He  must  try  again  to  bring  them  out  of 
their  narrowness  of  race  and  religion  into  a  com- 
mon brotherhood  of  all  men.  He  must  endeavor 
again  to  show  them  that  the  life  of  the  spirit  con- 
sists not  in  the  keeping  of  a  thousand  rules  but  in 
the  freedom  of  the  love  of  God.     He  knew  well 

264 


The  Parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son 


Batoni 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    THIRD  YEAR 

that  this  would  set  the  church  so  bitterly  against 
Him  that  His  life  would  be  the  price  which  He 
must  pay  for  His  plain  speech.  For  what  He  de- 
manded was  the  reformation  of  the  church,  and 
the  church  was  unwilling  to  be  reformed.  But 
speak  He  must. 

Thus  He  came  down  along  the  road  which  ran 
through  Perea;  He  crossed  the  Jordan  near 
Jericho,  and  went  up  through  the  rocky  hills 
toward  Jerusalem.  He  spent  a  night  at  Bethany. 
In  the  morning,  He  went  into  the  city,  riding  an 
ass,  which  in  the  old  times  was  accounted  more 
royal  than  the  horse.  Thus,  for  a  moment,  the 
hope  arose  again  that  He  would  offer. Himself  to 
all  the  discontented  in  Israel  as  their  king  against 
the  Romans.  At  the  sight,  however,  of  Jerusalem, 
He  wept  over  it,  and  foretold  its  certain  destruc- 
tion, and  it  was  plain  that  He  had  no  plan  to  save 
the  city.  Thus,  again.  His  followers  were  bitterly 
disappointed. 

For  several  days  He  taught  in  the  temple.  He 
spoke  His  mind  regarding  the  religion  of  the  place, 
and  delivered  His  message  in  the  ears  of  the 
priests  and  the  scribes.  There  were  still  so  many 
people  with  Him  that  the  rulers  did  not  dare  to 
take  Him  publicly.    At  last,  one  of  His  own  dis- 

265 


THE  GOSPELS 

ciples,  Judas  Iscariot,  offered  for  money  to  bring 
them  to  Him  in  a  quiet  place  where  He  might  be 
arrested  without  tumult.  As  the  feast  of  the 
Passover  came,  He  ate  the  Paschal  Supper  with 
the  twelve.  At  that  time  He  took  bread  and 
broke  it,  and  poured  wine  into  a  cup,  and  these  He 
gave  to  them  saying  ''This  is  my  body,  this  is  my 
blood;  do  this  in  remembrance  of  me.'' 

After  that,  as  He  was  praying  in  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane,  Judas,  who  had  gone  from  the 
supper  to  the  priests,  led  a  band  of  soldiers  and 
servants  who  seized  and  bound  Him  and  carried 
Him  away.  All  the  disciples  fled.  Thus  He  was 
brought  before  the  council  of  the  Jewish  church 
and  people,  meeting  in  the  night.  There  He 
declared  plainly  that  He  was  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God.  He  was  condemned  to  death,  and  brought 
before  Pilate  to  be  sentenced.  Pilate  found  no 
fault  in  Him,  but  there  was  now  a  mob  of  people 
clamoring  for  His  crucifixion,  until  Pilate  was 
frightened.  He  scourged  Jesus,  hoping  that  that 
would  be  enough,  but  the  sight  of  His  blood  only 
enraged  them  the  more.  Standing  before  them, 
having  on  His  shoulders  a  scarlet  robe  and  on  His 
head  a  crown  of  thorns,  in  contempt  of  His  claim 

266 


MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST:    THIRD  YEAR 

to  be  the  true  king  of  the  Jews,  they  cried  out, 
'* Crucify  him!  Crucify  him! ^' 

So  He  was  crucified.  They  led  Him  out  of  the 
city  to  a  place  of  execution,  nailed  His  hands  and 
feet  to  a  cross,  and  left  Him  there  to  die.  The 
day  was  Friday,  the  time  was  nine  o'clock,  at 
three  o'clock  He  died.  Thus  was  ended,  as  it 
seemed,  a  life  of  failure.  He  had  come  upholding 
high  ideals  and  trying  to  get  them  realized,  teach- 
ing the  truth  of  God,  God  Himself  being  with  Him 
and  in  Him,  and  not  only  the  people  but  the  min- 
isters of  the  church  had  refused  to  heed  Him.  The 
church  had  put  Him  to  death. 

But  that  was  only  the  beginning.  On  Sunday 
a  rumor  spread  among  the  disciples  that  He  was 
alive.  Some  of  them  going  out  in  the  early  morn- 
ing, found  the  grave  empty.  Some  came  back 
reporting  that  they  had  seen  visions  of  angels 
declaring  that  He  was  risen  from  the  dead.  Pres- 
ently, Peter  saw  Him.  That  afternoon,  two 
disciples  going  to  a  village  near  Jerusalem  were 
joined  by  a  mysterious  person  whom  at  last  they 
recognized  as  Jesus;  and  when  they  knew  Him, 
He  vanished  out  of  their  sight.  That  evening  the 
whole  company  of  the  apostles — except  Judas, 
who  had  hanged  himself,  and  Thomas,  who  was 

267 


THE  GOSPELS 

absent, — saw  Him  face  to  face.  He  had  indeed 
arisen,  and  was  alive,  as  He  said,  forevermore. 
A  week  later,  Thomas  also  saw  Him  and  fell  at 
His  feet  crying,  "My  Lord  and  my  God!''  These 
appearances  continued  for  a  month  and  more. 
They  made  it  plain  to  the  disciples  that  their 
Master  was  alive.  Returning  thus  to  life  after  His 
death  upon  the  cross,  they  were  made  certain  that 
He  was  indeed  the  Christ,  as  He  had  said.  And 
gradually,  more  and  more,  as  He  appeared  and 
disappeared  with  words  of  blessing,  and  at  last 
ascended  into  Heaven,  they  began  to  perceive 
that  He  was  more  than  the  Christ,  more  than  the 
Great  Deliverer  for  whom  the  nation  prayed,  more 
than  man.  They  began  to  see  that  in  Him  God 
Himself  had  visited  them,  and  taught  them,  and 
lived  amongst  them.  They  began  to  see  that  the 
life  and  death  of  Jesus  had  been  a  revelation  of  the 
love  and  will  of  God. 


268 


The  Descent  from  the  Ceoss 


After  Tt^ihpns 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 
THE  ACTS 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PETER 

Acts  1-8,  10-12. 

1.  The  preparation  for  the  Christian  mission. 

(1)  The  days  of  waiting,  1. 

(2)  The  Day  of  Pentecost,  2. 

2.  The  Christians  and  the  rulers  of  the  city. 

(1)  First  summons;  after  healing  a  lame  man, 

3,4. 

(2)  Second  summons;  after  punishing  liars,  5. 

3.  The  Christians  and  the  rulers  of  the  synagogue. 

(1)  The  appointment  of  Stephen  6  :l-8. 

(2)  The  speech  of  Stephen  6:9-7:53. 

(3)  The  stoning  of  Stephen,  7:54r-60. 

4.  The  mission  of  Philip. 

(1)  To  the  Samaritans  8:1-25. 

(2)  To  the  Ethiopian,  8:26-40. 

5.  The  mission  of  Peter. 

(1)  To  Lydda  and  Joppa,  9:31-43. 

(2)  To  Caesarea:     Cornelius  the  centurian, 

10,  11. 

The  baptism  of  Gentiles. 

T^HE  book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  an  ac- 
count, for  the  most  part,  of  the  ministry  of  two 
men,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  It  describes  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Christian  Church  in  Jerusalem,  and 
its  extension  outside  of  Jerusalem,  as  far  as  Rome. 

271 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PETER 

The  resurrection  of  Christ  had  filled  the  hearts 
of  the  disciples  with  such  faith  in  Him  that  they 
had  high  hopes  of  convincing  all  their  brethren. 
When  the  Feast  of  Penticost  came,  a  commemor- 
ation of  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Sinai,  and  a 
thanksgiving  for  the  wheat  harvest,  they  were 
made  so  aware  of  the  presence  and  blessing  of  God 
that  the  room  in  which  they  prayed  seemed  filled 
with  the  sound  of  a  mighty  wind  and  tongues  of 
fire  appeared  upon  their  heads.  Down  they  came, 
then,  into  the  streets  and  began  to  speak.  At 
first,  their  excitement  and  enthusiasm  and  joy  was 
such  that  they  spoke  in  sounds  rather  than  in 
words,  yet  in  such  a  manner  that  men  of  every 
language  understood  that  something  very  extra- 
ordinary had  happened  to  them.  Then  Peter 
spoke  in  the  common  language  which  they  all 
knew,  and  declared  that  Jesus  whom  they  had 
crucified  was  the  Christ  who  should  save  the 
nation  and  the  world. 

The  rulers,  finding  that  this  preaching  at- 
tracted a  great  crowd,  and  fearful  of  a  public  dis- 
turbance, put  the  apostles  into  prison;  and  when 
they  were  let  out  and  still  continued  to  preach 
their  gospel,  they  imprisoned  them  again,  hes- 
itating to  use  harsher  means,  on  account  of  the 

272 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PETER 

feeling  of  the  people.  No  imprisonment,  however, 
and  not  even  scourging  stopped  the  men,  and 
daily  the  number  of  those  who  believed  their  word 
increased. 

In  consequence  of  this  preaching,  there  arose 
among  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem  a  company  of  people 
who  believed  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  that  He 
had  risen  from  the  dead  and  ascended  into  Heaven, 
and  that  he  would  come  again  to  judge  all  men 
according  to  the  ideal  of  right  living  which  He 
taught.  They  were  still  members  of  the  church 
and  had  no  intention  of  separating  from  it.  They 
attended  the  services  of  the  temple  and  the  syna- 
gogue; but  in  addition,  they  had  meetings  of  their 
own,  eating  together  in  great  friendship,  breaking 
bread  as  Christ  had  commanded. 

At  last,  a  good  man  named  Stephen,  who  had 
been  appointed,  with  others,  to  care  for  the  poor 
widows  of  the  company  that  they  might  not  go 
hungry,  entered  into  a  controversy  with  his 
brethren  who  had  not  accepted  Jesus  as  the  Christ. 
They  said  that  Jesus,  whom  he  upheld,  had 
threatened  to  destroy  the  temple  and  to  change 
the  laws  of  Moses.  And  when  he  answered  them, 
maintaining  that  they  were  blind  to  the  light  of 
God,  as  their  fathers  had  been  so  many  times 

273 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PETER 

before  them,  they  east  him  out  of  the  synagogue 
and  stoned  him  till  he  died.  Thus  departed 
Stephen,  the  first  martyr,  declaring  that  he  saw 
Jesus  glorified  in  Heaven,  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

The  murder  of  Stephen  was  followed  by  a  gen- 
eral persecution  of  the  Christians.  They  were 
forced  out  of  the  synagogues.  They  were  com- 
pelled at  last  to  separate  themselves  from  the 
ancient  church.  The  Christian  Church  began  as 
an  independent  religious  society  on  the  day  when 
the  congregation  stoned  Stephen. 

The  Christians  who  were  thus  persecuted  after 
the  stoning  of  Stephen  fled  in  all  directions;  except 
the  apostles.  Wherever  they  went  they  carried 
the  gospel  with  them.  They  told  men  everywhere 
that  Christ  had  come,  that  God  had  spoken  to 
men,  and  that  the  kingdom  of  God  was  at  hand. 
"Repent,"  they  said,  "and  believe,  and  be  bap- 
tized. Then  may  you  enter  into  the  heavenly 
kingdom." 

Philip,  who  had  been  a  companion  of  Stephen, 
went  to  Samaria  and  preached  Christ  to  the 
Samaritans.  They  were  at  that  time  under  the 
influence  of  a  teacher  named  Simon  Magus,  who 
was  preaching  a  religion  in  which  he  himself  held 
a  high  place,  being,  as  he  said,  the  "great  power  of 

274 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PETER 

God."  But  the  Samaritans,  and  for  a  time  even 
Simon,  believed  Philip.  He  baptized  them,  and 
Peter  and  John  came  from  Jerusalem  and  laid 
their  hands  upon  them,  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
brought  great  joy  into  their  hearts. 

Presently,  Philip  met  on  the  road  a  man  from 
Ethiopia,  a  treasurer  of  the  queen  of  that  country. 
He  had  been  to  Jerusalem  to  worship,  being  of 
the  Jews'  religion,  and  as  he  rode  along  he  read 
the  Bible,  and  considered  the  strange  things  which 
he  had  heard  during  his  visit.  Meeting  Philip 
going  the  same  way,  he  asked  him  to  ride  with 
him,  and  questioned  Philip  concerning  Jesus  the 
Christ.  What  Philip  said  so  impressed  the  Ethio- 
pian that  he  asked  to  be  baptized,  and  at  the  next 
pool  of  water  Philip  baptized  him. 

Thence  went  Philip  to  Caesarea  by  the  sea,  and 
there  made  his  home.  In  so  doing,  he  left  Judaism 
behind  him,  for  Caesarea  by  the  sea  was  a  Roman 
city,  the  capital  of  the  Roman  governor.  Nothing 
more  is  heard  of  Philip  for  several  years,  but  we 
get  a  glimpse  of  his  ministry  among  the  Gentiles 
of  that  city  in  the  fact  that  a  Roman  soldier, 
named  Cornelius,  dreamed  at  night  of  Philip's 
friend,  the  apostle  Peter.  Cornelius  was  a  good 
man,  who  continually  served  God  and  his  neigh- 

275 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PETER 

bors,  praying  and  giving  alms;  but  he  was  a 
Gentile.  Meanwhile,  Peter  was  following  Philip 
in  his  mission  to  Caesarea,  as  he  had  followed  him 
in  his  mission  to  Samaria.  He  had  visited  Lydda, 
where  he  found  a  few  Christians,  and  had  come  to 
Joppa. 

The  town  was  by  the  sea,  near  the  scene  of  the 
old  story  of  Perseus  and  Andromeda.  There 
Peter  found  lodgings  with  a  tanner,  whose  house 
was  by  the  sea-side.  The  town  was  as  Jewish  in 
its  population  and  spirit  as  Caesarea  was  Genfcile, 
but  it  looked  out  over  the  Mediterranean  toward 
the  great  new  world  of  the  west.  The  roof  of  the 
house  was  flat,  hke  all  the  roofs  of  that  country, 
and  Peter  went  upon  the  roof  to  get  the  cool 
breeze  froni  the  water,  and  to  wait  for  dinner.  He 
was  thinking  of  the  Jewish  world  behind  him  and 
about  him,  with  its  prejudices,  in  which  he  himself 
shared,  and  its  unwillingness  to  admit  Gentiles 
into  its  friendship.  And  he  was  thinking  of  the 
vast  Gentile  world  before  him,  needing  the  truth 
which  he  had  to  teach  and  the  help  which  he  had 
to  bring.  Thus  meditating  he  fell  asleep,  and 
dreamed.  And  in  his  dream  a  great  sheet  was  let 
down  from  the  sky,  and  in  it  were  all  sorts  of 
animals,  some  good  for  food  and  some  not  good 

276 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PETER 

for  food,  according  to  the  Jewish  law.  And  a 
voice  said,  ^^Rise,  Peter,  kill  and  eaf;  to  which 
he  replied  '^Not  so.  Lord,  I  have  never  eaten  that 
which  the  law  calls  unclean/'  Then  the  voice 
said,  ''What  God  has  cleaned,  that  call  not  thou 
unclean."  Then  he  awoke,  and  as  he  thought 
upon  his  dream  he  saw  that  it  meant  that  the  old 
distinctions  and  separations  were  to  be  done  away. 
Men  were  to  eat  whatever  agreed  with  them,  no 
matter  what  the  old  law  forbade,  and  they  were  to 
sit  at  all  men's  tables,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile. 

Then  came  a  knock  at  the  door,  and  there  were 
messengers  from  Cornelius.  ''Come,''  said  Cor- 
nelius, "and  tell  me  what  I  ought  to  do."  So 
Peter  went.  Coming  to  the  Gentile's  house,  he 
went  in,  and  spoke  to  Cornelius  and  his  friends  as 
brothers,  not  in  the  Jews'  manner,  and  when  they 
desired  him  he  baptized  them  all. 

Thus  the  next  great  step  was  taken.  People 
were  admitted  to  membership  in  the  Christian 
company  without  the  requirement  that  they 
should  first  be  Jews.  It  was  a  matter  of  grave  im- 
portance because  it  answered  the  question  which 
all  the  Christians  were  discussing.  Are  we  a 
Jewish  society,  keeping  all  the  old  rules  and  only 
adding  new  ones?    Or  are  we  a  Christian  church, 

277 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PETER 

apart  from  the  old  Judaism,  taking  what  we  like 
and  leaving  what  we  like  not,  and  living  our  own 
life,  and  thus  appealing  not  to  the  Jews  only  but 
also  to  the  Gentiles?  This  matter  Peter  had  de- 
cided for  himself  when  he  met  Cornelius  and  his 
friends  and  baptized  them,  taking  them  in  straight 
from  the  ranks  of  the  Gentiles. 


278 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL 

Acts  9,  13-28. 

1.  The  conversion  of  Saul,  9:22,  26. 

2.  Ten  years  in  Syria  and  Cilicia,  35-45  A.  D.    Gala- 

tians  1:18,  2:1. 

3.  The  three  missionary  journeys,  45-55. 

(1)  The  mission  to  Galatia. 

a.  Cyprus,  Antioch,  Iconium,  Lystra  13, 

14. 

b.  The  conference  at  Jerusalem,  15. 

(2)  The  mission  to  Macedonia  and  Achaia. 

a.  To  Macedonia. 

Philippi,  Thessalonica  16-17:14. 

b.  To  Achaia. 

Athens,  17:15-34. 
Corinth,  18. 

(3)  The  mission  to  Asia. 

a.  Ephesus,  19. 

b.  The  return  to  Jerusalem  20-21 :16. 

4.  The  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  Paul,  55-60. 

(1)  Arrested  in  Jerusalem  21:17-23:16. 

(2)  Imprisoned  in  Caesarea  23:11-26:32. 

(3)  Shipwrecked,  27-28:15. 

(4)  Imprisoned  in  Rome,  28:16-31. 

j\/TEANWHILE,  an  event  had  taken  place  which 
was  to  result  in  making  this  great  matter 
plain  and  final. 

279 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL 

In  the  persecutions  which  followed  the  stoning 
of  Stephen,  the  leader  of  the  attack  of  the  Jews 
upon  the  Christians  was  a  young  man  named  Saul. 
Born  in  the  Roman  city  of  Tarsus,  in  Asia  Minor, 
where  he  had  seen  the  glory  and  the  learning  of  the 
Gentile  world;  educated  in  Jerusalem  under  the 
best  teacher  of  the  time,  Gamaliel;  he  was  a  person 
of  very  positive  convictions,  on  which  he  was  ac- 
customed to  act  with  all  his  might.  He  had  con- 
tended the  more  fiercely  against  the  Christians 
because  he  was  contending  bitterly  with  himself. 
He  had  come  to  see  that  the  old  law  did  not  help 
him,  and  that,  even  though  he  obeyed  it,  it  was  not 
enough  for  a  good  life.  He  felt  in  his  heart  an  in- 
clination towards  sin,  keeping  him  back  from  his 
high  ideals.  Against  this  inclination,  the  old  re- 
ligion gave  him  no  sufficient  strength.  Thus  his 
flesh  and  his  spirit,  his  will  and  his  conscience,  were 
at  war. 

Getting  permission  from  the  priests  at  Jeru- 
salem to  seek  out  the  Christian  heretics  and  separ- 
atists even  in  Damascus,  he  set  out  thither  after 
the  excitement  of  the  persecution  in  Judea.  Thus 
he  rode  for  days  silently  across  the  desert,  thinking. 
At  last,  one  day  at  noon,  as  he  and  his  companions 
drew  near  to  Damascus,  suddenly  there  was  a 

280 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL  \ 


flash  like  lightning  from  the  sky,  and  Saul  fell 
from  his  horse,  stunned  and  blinded.  When  they 
led  him  into  the  city,  he  met  the  chief  of  the 
Christians  there,  named  Ananias,  whom  he  had 
meant  to  put  to  death,  and  said,  ^^I  have  seen 
Jesus  Christ !  I  have  seen  him  in  the  sky  in  shining 
light!''  And  he  was  baptized.  The" 'persecutor 
had  become  a  Christian. 

Thereafter  Saul,  who  presently  changed  his 
name  to  Paul,  devoted  himself  to  the  service  of 
Christ.  He  went  away  for  a  time  into  Arabia,  to 
consider  his  new  life.  Then  he  went  into  Syria  and 
Cilicia:  into  Syria,  north  of  the  Holy  Land,  whose 
chief  city  was  Antioch;  and  into  Cilicia,  west  of 
Syria,  whose  chief  city  was  St.  Paul's  native  town 
of  Tarsus.  There  he  stayed  perhaps  ten  years, 
studying  and  preaching,  making  ready  for  his 
great  work. 

If  we  take  the  year  30  as  the  time  of  the  cruci- 
fixion and  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
year  60  as  the  time  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Paul, 
the  book  of  the  Acts  covers  a  period  of  thirty 
years.  Saul  was  converted  about  the  year  35. 
Barnabas  went  to  Tarsus  and  brought  him  back 
to  Antioch  about  the  year  45.  The  date  is  deter- 
mined by  the  death  of  Herod  in  44. 

281 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL 

Then  St.  Paul  started,  with  Barnabas,  on  the 
first  of  his  three  missionary  journeys. 
I  Leaving  Antioch,  with  the  blessings  and  prayers 
of  the  Christians  there,  they  sailed  to  Cyprus,  and 
visited  the  two  principal  towns  of  that  island. 
Their  plan  was  to  begin  in  the  synagogue  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  Jews.  This  they  did  in 
Cyprus,  where  they  saved  the  governor  of  the 
island  from  the  deceits  of  a  sorcerer  named 
Elymas. 

Then  they  sailed  to  Asia  Minor.  Between  Asia 
and  Europe,  like  a  wide  bridge,  having  the  Med- 
iterranean Sea  on  the  south  and  the  Black  and  Cas- 
pian Seas  on  the  north,  reaches  this  middle  land  of 
Asia  Minor.  The  first  missionary  journey  was  in 
the  eastern  part  of  this  country. 

Passing  through  Perga,  they  came  to  another 
Antioch,  a  great  city  of  the  province  of  Galatia. 
There  Paul  preached  first  to  the  Jews,  then  to  the 
Gentiles,  and  made  so  many  of  them  Christians 
that  the  conservative  Jews,  seeing  the  success  of 
this  which  to  them  seemed  heresy,  stirred  up  the 
city  against  them,  and  put  them  out.  They  had 
the  same  experience  at  Iconium,  where  they  were 
stoned. 

At  Lystra,  the  next  town,  the  simple  people 

282 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL 

thought  at  first  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  two 
of  their  Greek  gods  come  to  earth,  caUing  Bar- 
nabas Jupiter  and  Paul  Mercury,  because  he  was 
the  chief  speaker.  But  men  who  followed  from  An- 
tioch  and  Iconium  changed  their  minds  and  they 
assaulted  the  Christian  preachers  with  stones  till 
they  thought  they  had  killed  Paul.  The  apostles 
escaped,  however,  with  their  lives,  and  went  to 
Derbe.  Thence  they  retraced  their  steps,  encour- 
aging those  whom  they  had  persuaded  to  become 
Christians,  and  appointing  the  older  among  them 
to  be  their  ministers,  and  so  returned  to  Antioch 
in  Syria,  whence  they  had  set  out. 

The  immediate  effect  of  this  journey  was  to 
raise  again  the  question  as  to  the  relation  between 
the  Christians  and  the  Jews.  Paul  and  Barnabas 
had  made  no  difference  between  Jews  and  Gentiles, 
and  had  admitted  people  by  baptism  into  the 
Christian  church  without  paying  any  heed  to  the 
ancient  initiation  by  which  people  were  admitted 
to  the  Jewish  church.  This  ancient  rite  was 
called  circumcision.  It  was  plainly  commanded 
in  the  Bible.  One  party  of  Christians  said  there- 
fore, '' Except  men  be  circumcised  and  keep  the 
law  of  Moses,  they  cannot  be  saved.  ^'  Another 
party  of  Christians  said,  '^New  times  and  needs 

283 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL 

require  new  ways.  God  has  given  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  uncircumcised  men  whom  Peter  and  Paul  have 
baptized.  Former  things  have  passed  away." 
So  they  met  at  Jerusalem  to  consider  the  matter. 
''Is  the  Bible  in  every  particular  binding  on  our  con- 
sciences? Must  we  still  do  exactly  as  men  did  a 
thousand  years  ago?  Shall  we  admit  Jews  only, 
into  the  Christian  church,  or  shall  we  frankly  set 
aside  the  old  law  and  freely  admit  Gentiles?" 
This  they  debated,  and  the  accounts  which  Paul 
and  Barnabas  gave  of  their  mission  to  Galatia  de- 
termined the  discussion.  They  decided  to  follow 
their  own  judgment.  "It  seems  good,"  they  said, 
"to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  us  to  make  men  Chris- 
tians without  putting  upon  them  the  burden  of 
the  Jewish  law." 

Then  Paul,  this  time  taking  Silas  with  him, 
started  on  his  second  missionary  journey. 

His  purpose  now  was  to  preach  in  the  western 
part  of  Asia  Minor,  as  he  had  previously  preached 
in  the  eastern  part.  But  this  was  prevented.  For 
reasons  which  we  are  not  told,  he  was  unable  to  go 
on  one  side  to  Ephesus,  or  on  the  other  side  to 
Bithynia.  On  he  went,  therefore,  till  he  came  to 
the  extreme  town  on  the  border  of  Asia  Minor 
towards   Europe,    the   city   of   Troas.      In   this 

284 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL 

neighborhood  had  stood  that  famous  town  of 
Troy,  to  which  Paris  brought  stolen  Helen  in  the 
old  story,  and  over  whose  possession  the  Greeks 
and  Trojans  fought  so  long.  There  in  a  dream 
Paul  saw  an  European,  a  man  of  Macedonia,  say- 
ing, '^Come  over  into  Macedonia  and  help  us.'' 
The  next  day,  he  set  sail  on  the  Aegean  Sea  and 
crossed  to  Europe. 

He  found  himself  in  the  province  of  Macedonia, 
from  which  Alexander  had  set  forth  to  conquer 
the  world.  Thus  he  approached  Philippi.  That 
was  the  place  where  the  Roman  Empire  had  its 
beginning,  for  there,  after  the  murder  of  Julius 
Caesar,  Augustus  defeated  Brutus  and  Cassius 
and  became  the  ruler  of  the  world.  There  began 
the  Christian  church  in  Europe.  The  preaching  of 
Paul  at  Philippi  was  interrupted  by  a  disturbance 
made  by  the  owners  of  a  fortune-telling  slave  girl, 
whom  Paul  healed  of  an  evil  spirit.  They  accused 
the  Christian  preachers  of  teaching  new  and 
strange  customs,  and  they  were  beaten  and  put 
in  prison.  The  next  day,  however,  the  magis- 
trates, learning  that  Paul  was  a  Roman  citizen, 
released  them  with  apologies. 

Thence  they  went  to  Thessalonica.    There  the 

285 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL 

Jews  who  did  not  accept  their  preaching  raised  a 
tumult,  as  in  other  places,  and  brought  a  mob 
about  the  doors  of  the  house  where  they  were 
staying,  and  tried  to  lay  hold  upon  them.  They 
did  not  succeed,  but  it  seemed  wise  for  Paul  and 
Silas  to  depart  out  of  their  city. 

Thus  they  fared,  then,  in  the  two  principal 
places  of  Macedonia,  Philippi  and  Thessalonica. 
Moving  on  thence  into  the  province  of  Achaia, 
the  land  which  we  call  Greece,  they  found  again 
two  cities,  Athens  and  Corinth. 

Athens  was  the  great  city  of  learning,  of  art,  of 
philosophy.  There  was  a  famous  university  there. 
On  Mars^  Hill,  which  overlooked  the  city,  Paul 
preached  to  the  Epicureans  and  the  Stoics.  These 
men  were  trying  to  get  the  most  happiness  out  of 
life,  but  they  differed  as  to  the  way  to  do  it.  The 
Epicureans  said,  ''Enjoy  everything,  and  you  will 
be  happy";  the  Stoics  said,  ''Desire  nothing,  and 
you  will  be  happy.''  Neither  of  them  took  the 
service  of  God  and  of  their  neighbors  into  much 
account.  To  them  Paul  preached  the  universal 
God,  in  whose  obedience  true  joy  is  to  be  found, 
and  Jesus  Christ  whom  He  has  sent.  But  they 
showed  little  interest. 

286 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL 

Corinth  was  the  great  city  of  business  and 
wealth.  Situated  at  the  isthmus  which  connected 
the  two  parts  of  the  peninsula  of  Greece,  it  was 
mistress  of  the  trade  of  that  part  of  the  world. 
Paul  spent  nearly  two  years  in  Corinth.  The  Jews 
again  opposed  him,  and  put  him  on  trial  before 
Gallio,  the  Roman  governor,  but  Gallio  paid  no 
heed  to  their  charges.  After  that,  Paul  addressed 
himself  to  the  Gentiles.  Then,  making  a  brief 
visit  to  Ephesus,  and  sailing  thence  to  Caesarea, 
he  made  his  way  to  Jerusalem  and  to  Antioch,  and 
so  ended  his  second  missionary  journey. 

The  third  journey  was  made  to  those  eastern 
parts  of  Asia  Minor  which  in  the  second  journey 
Paul  had  passed  by.  He  took  up  his  residence  in 
Ephesus. 

Ephesus  was  a  city  of  religion,  as  Athens  was  a 
city  of  philosophy  and  Corinth  of  business,  but 
the  religion  was  the  worship  of  Diana,  in  whose 
honor  there  was  a  splendid  temple.  Paul  was  so 
successful  in  his  preaching  to  the  Ephesians  that 
they  not  only  made  a  great  bonfire  of  their  books 
of  magic,  but  the  business  of  selling  silver  shrines, 
little  copies  of  the  great  shrine  of  Diana,  decreased 
seriously.    Thereupon  the  shrine-makers  raised  a 

287 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL 

mob  against  the  Christians,  shouting  for  two  hours 
"Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians!" 

From  Ephesus  Paul  revisited  Macedonia  and 
Greece.  He  returned  to  Asia  Minor,  stopping  at 
Troas,  and  meeting  a  company  of  people  from 
Ephesus  on  the  sea-shore  by  Miletus.  There  he 
told  them  that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more, 
and  they  wept,  and  kissed  him.  He  landed  at 
Tyre,  went  down  along  the  coast  road  through 
Caesarea,  and  so  came  to  Jerusalem. 

At  Jerusalem,  his  old  enemies,  the  orthodox 
Jews,  seized  him  in  the  temple,  crying  out  upon 
him  as  the  great  breaker  of  the  law  and  the  foe 
of  the  church,  and  almost  tearing  him  in  pieces. 
The  Roman  governor  rescued  him  out  of  their 
hands,  but  hearing  that  more  than  forty  men  had 
bound  themselves  under  an  oath  that  they  would 
neither  eat  nor  drink  till  they  had  killed  the  heretic 
he  sent  Paul  by  night,  under  guard  of  a  company  of 
soldiers,  to  Caesarea.  There  he  lay  two  years  in 
prison  till,  on  his  appeal  of  his  case  to  Caesar,  he 
was  sent  to  Rome.  He  was  shipwrecked  on  the 
way,  but  found  refuge  on  the  island  of  Malta,  and 
at  last  arrived  at  the  capital  of  the  world. 

There  the  Acts  leaves  him,  in  charge  of  Roman 

288 


St.  Paul  at  Ephesus 


THE  ACTS  OF  ST.  PAUL 

officers,  but  having  the  liberty  of  his  own  hired 
house,  awaiting  trial,  and  preaching  the  gospel. 
It  was  remembered  among  the  Christians  that  the 
trial  went  against  him,  and  that  he  was  condemned 
as  a  disturber  of  the  peace.  Outside  the  city  he 
was  put  to  death,  being  beheaded. 


289  ! 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 
THE  EPISTLES 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  PAUL,  DURING  THE 
MISSIONARY  JOURNEYS 

1.  To  the  Galatians.    Christianity  and  Judaism. 

(1)  Paul's  divine  authority,  1,  2. 

(2)  The  old  religion  and  the  new,  3,  4. 

(3)  The  liberty  of  faith,  5,  6. 

2.  To  the  Thessalonians,  I.    The  Second  Coming  of 

Christ. 
The  dead  shall  share  with  the  living  in  the  joy 
of  the  Second  Coming. 

3.  To  the  Thessalonians,  II.    The  Second  Coming  of 

Christ. 
The  time  is  distant;  meanwhile  do  your  daily 
work. 

4.  To  the  Corinthians,  I.    Admonitions  and  Answers 

(1)  Admonitions. 

a.  As  to  party  divisions,  1-4. 

6.  As  to  marrying  one's  stepmother,  5. 

c.  As  to  going  to  law,  6. 

(2)  Answers. 

a.  Concerning  marriage,  7. 

b.  Concerning  food  offered  to  idols,  8. 

c.  Concerning  the  Lord's  Supper,  10,  11. 

d.  Concerning  the  tongues,  12,  14. 

e.  Concerning  charity,  13. 

f.  Concerning  the  resurrection,  15. 

g.  Concerning  the  collection  for  the  poor, 

16. 

5.  To  the  Corinthians,  II.    Two  Letters. 

293 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  PAUL 

(1)  The  letter  which  made  the  Corinthians 

repent,  10-13. 

(2)  The  letter  after  they  repented,  1-9. 
6.  To  the  Romans.    Christianity  and  Judaism. 

(1)  Gentiles  and  Jews  alike  need  salvation,  1-3. 

(2)  Salvation  not  by  law,  but  by  faith  and 

grace,  4,  5. 

(3)  Freedom  from  law  does  not  permit  Chris- 

tians to  sin,  6-8. 

(4)  Failure  of  law  does  not  mean  that  Jews 

are  finally  rejected,  9-11. 

(5)  The  life  of  faith,  12-16. 

^T^HE  word  *^  epistle '^  is  an  old-fashioned  name 
for  a  letter,  as  the  word  '^ prophecy"  is  an 
old-fashioned  name  for  a  sermon. 

One  difference  between  the  prophecies  and  the 
epistles  is  that  the  prophecies  are  concerned  with 
nations,  while  the  epistles  are  concerned  with 
churches.  The  prophets  are  interested,  like 
modern  editors  of  newspapers,  in  the  affairs  of 
the  world,  in  the  progress  of  peoples,  in  the  for- 
tunes of  wars.  The  apostles  are  interested,  like 
modern  preachers  of  sermons,  in  the  condition  of 
the  congregation,  in  the  affairs  of  the  parish,  in 
the  local  good  and  evil.  This  is  largely  because  the 
people  to  whom  the  epistles  are  addressed  had  no 
place  among  the  nations,  and  no  part  in  politics, 
being  under  the  dominion  of  Rome. 

294 


THE  MISSIONARY  JOURNEYS 

Another  difference  is  that  the  epistles  instead  of 
looking,  like  the  prophecies,  for  some  future  and 
unknown  deliverer,  declare  that  the  deliverer  has 
come. 

Otherwise,  the  epistles  are  very  much  like  the 
prophecies.  The  prophecies  are  sermons  which 
were  first  spoken  to  the  people  and  then  written 
out;  the  epistles  are  sermons  which  were  first 
written  out  and  then  sent  to  be  read  to  the  people. 

Of  the  twenty-one  letters  in  the  New  Testament, 
fourteen  bear  the  name  of  St.  Paul  and  are  con- 
veniently called  the  Pauline  Epistles.  The  other 
seven  are  by  different  writers  and  are  called  the 
CathoUc  Epistles.  The  word  ^'cathohc,'^  in  this 
sense,  means  general;  i.  e.  most  of  these  letters 
are  addressed  to  people  in  general,  not  to  any  per- 
son or  church  in  particular. 

The  Pauline  Epistles  are  arranged  in  the  Bible 
in  the  order  of  their  size,  beginning  with  long 
letters  such  as  Romans  and  Corinthians  and  end- 
ing with  the  nttle  note  to  Philemon.  After  Phil- 
emon, indeed,  comes  Hebrews,  but  this  is  because 
of  a  doubt  whether  it  should  be  included  among 
the  letters  of  St.  Paul,  or  not.  The  epistles  are 
easier  to  understand  when  they  are  arranged  not 
in  order  of  size  but  in  order  of  time.    This  arrange- 

295 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  PAUL 

ment  makes  two  groups :  first,  the  epistles  which 
were  written  during  St.  PauFs  missionary  journeys; 
and  second,  the  epistles  which  were  written  during 
his  imprisonment  in  Rome. 

The  letters  of  the  first  group  were  written  be- 
tween the  years  45  and  55.  They  begin  with 
Galatians,  and  include  the  double  epistles  to  the 
Thessalonians  and  to  the  Corinthians,  and  end 
with  Romans. 

It  is  uncertain  whether  the  earliest  epistle  of 
St.  Paul  was  written  to  the  Galatians  or  to  the 
Thessalonians.  But  the  Galatians  were  the  people 
to  whom  he  preached  in  the  first  of  his  three  mis- 
sionary journeys,  and  the  matter  concerning  which 
he  wrote  to  them  is  the  question  which  that  mis- 
sion raised.  We  may  conveniently  begin,  then, 
with  Galatians. 

The  Galatian  churches  were  in  Antioch,  Icon- 
ium,  Derbe,  and  Lystra.  Many  of  the  converts 
made  in  these  places  were  Gentiles.  The  accept- 
ance of  these  people  by  baptism  without  requiring 
them  to  be  circumcised  had  led  to  that  conference 
in  Jerusalem  at  which  the  matter  was  decided.  It 
was  there  settled  that  the  Christian  church  was 
different  from  the  Jewish  church,  and  was  not 
under  obligation  to  keep  the  Jewish  laws. 

296 


THE  MISSIONARY  JOURNEYS 

The  matter  was  decided,  but  all  the  Christians 
in  Jerusalem  were  not  satisfied.  They  had  all  been 
Jews,  brought  up  in  the  Jewish  church  and  de- 
voutly attached  to  it,  and  some  of  them  were 
not  ready  for  so  serious  a  step.  They  could  not 
believe  that  the  old  laws  did  not  bind  men  still. 
Even  Peter,  who  had  seen  the  vision  of  the  great 
sheet,  was  impressed  by  their  arguments,  and 
though  he  had  dined  with  Gentiles  at  Antioch, 
thus  showing  that  he  considered  them  as  good  as 
Jews,  when  some  of  these  conservative  brethren 
came  he  changed  his  mind.  Peter  and  Paul  had 
a  sharp  debate  about  it. 

Some  of  these  conservative  persons  had  gone 
to  Galatia  and  disturbed  the  converts  of  St.  Paul. 
''It  is  all  a  mistake,'^  they  said.  ''Except  ye  be 
circumcised  and  keep  the  law  of  Moses,  ye  cannot 
be  saved.''  As  for  Paul,  "He  is  not  an  apostle,'' 
they  said,  "He  never  knew  the  Lord  Jesus.  You 
must  not  depend  on  what  he  says." 

Under  these  circumstances,  St.  Paul  wrote  the 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  You  see  how  he  begins 
by  saying  that  he  is  an  apostle  indeed;  and  by 
reproving  the  Galatians  for  listening  to  these  dis- 
turbing teachers.  Then  he  compares  Christianity 
with  Judaism,  the  gospel  with  the  law.    The  law, 

297 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  PAUL 

he  says,  was  meant  to  prepare  men  for  the  gospel. 
To  go  back  to  it  is  hke  going  back  to  the  primary 
school.     It  is  to  exchange  liberty  for  bondage. 

The  letters  to  the  Thessalonians  and  to  the 
Corinthians  recall  the  mission  of  St.  Paul  first  to 
Macedonia,  and  then  to  Greece,  in  the  second  of 
his  journeys.  They  were  written  on  account  of 
reports  which  came  to  St.  Paul  from  these  churches 
and  in  answer  to  questions  which  they  asked. 

Paul  having  left  Thessalonica  in  consequence 
of  a  mob  which  assaulted  the  house  where  he  was 
staying,  was  anxious  to  know  how  the  Christians 
there  were  enduring  that  persecution.  Were  they 
still  true  to  him,  and  to  the  gospel  which  he 
taught,  or  had  they  fallen  away?  Then  when 
Timothy  came  from  Thessalonica  and  reported 
that  all  was  well,  bringing  good  tidings  of  their 
faith  and  charity,  and  saying  that  they  greatly 
desired  to  see  Paul  again,  even  as  he  desired  to  see 
them,  he  wrote  this  first  letter.  He  recalled  his 
visit  to  them,  and  spoke  of  the  friendship  in  Christ 
then  happily  begun,  and  told  them  how  glad  he 
was  to  learn  of  their  endurance  in  the  gospel.  He 
added  certain  warnings  regarding  sins  to  which 
they  were  particularly  tempted  in  their  town. 
Finally,  he  com^oHed  those  who  were  in  mourning 

298 


THE  MISSIONARY  JOURNEYS 

among  them,  assuring  them  that  when  Christ 
came  again,  the  dead  should  rise  to  meet  Him  with 
the  hving. 

The  expectation  of  the  coming  of  Christ,  how- 
ever, took  so  strong  a  hold  on  the  minds  of  the 
Christians  in  Thessalonica  that  some  of  them 
stopped  work.  They  gave  up  their  business. 
They  said,  ^^If  the  world  is  so  near  its  end,  and 
Christ  may  come  next  week,  why  interest  our- 
selves in  the  affairs  of  this  life?^'  Paul  therefore 
wrote  again  to  tell  them  that  the  best  preparation 
for  that  Second  Coming  was  the  doing  of  their 
daily  duty.  ''We  do  not  know,^'  he  said,  ''When 
Christ  will  come.  Many  things  must  happen  first. 
Be  patient;  be  good  and  faithful.  Attend  dili- 
gently to  your  own  business." 

The  letters  to  the  Corinthians,  like  those  to  the 
Thessalonians,  were  written  on  account  of  reports 
and  questions.  St.  Paul  was  told  that  the  Corinth- 
ian Christians  were  divided  among  themselves, 
some  saying  that  they  were  followers  of  Paul, 
others  that  they  were  followers  of  Peter.  He  was 
told  also  that  they  were  going  to  law  one  with 
another,  bringing  to  the  Roman  courts  the  differ- 
ences which  they  ought  to  settle  in  brotherly  love. 
Another  report  gave  an  account  of  a  man  who  had 

299 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  PAUL 

married  his  stepmother,  and  who  was  nevertheless 
permitted  to  continue  in  the  company  of  the 
Christians.  The  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
begins  with  these  unpleasant  matters. 

Then  the  apostle  answers  various  questions.  It 
is  not  well,  he  says,  for  Christians  to  marry  unbe- 
lievers. It  is  not  well  to  eat  food  which  has  been 
offered  to  idols;  of  course,  idols  are  nothing;  and 
one  kind  of  food  is  as  good  as  another,  so  far  as 
religion  is  concerned,  but  we  must  not  needlessly 
give  offence. 

He  deals  with  the  two  kinds  of  Christian  ser- 
vices; the  service  of  the  Holy  Communion  and 
the  service  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  As  for  the  service 
of  the  Holy  Communion,  which  consists  in  par- 
taking of  the  Lord^s  Supper,  they  are  to  enter  into 
it  with  reverence;  not  lightly,  as  if  it  were  an 
ordinary  meal,  but  remembering  the  Lord  Jesus. 
As  for  the  service  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  con- 
sists in  speaking  with  tongues,  they  are  to  know 
that  better  than  all  speech  with  tongues  is  the 
plain  word  which  everybody  can  understand.  The 
sound  of  the  tongues  expresses  their  own  great 
joy,  but  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world  is  charity, 
whereby  we  do  good  to  others. 

The  epistle  closes  with  a  chapter  on  the  resur- 

300 


THE  MISSIONARY  JOURNEYS 

rection  of  the  body.  We  must  die,  and  be  buried, 
and  be  raised  again  from  the  dead;  not  in  the 
natural  body  which  we  wear  and  use  in  this 
present  life  but  in  the  spiritual  body  which  shall 
be  fitted  for  the  uses  of  the  life  to  come. 

This  first  epistle  was  followed  by  a  second,  per- 
haps a  third  also.  The  fact  that  the  letter  as 
we  have  it  begins  by  expressing  gratitude  for  the 
repentance  of  the  Corinthians  after  their  bad  con- 
duct, and  then  continues  in  sharp  rebuke  for  bad 
conduct  from  which  they  have  not  departed  and 
for  which  they  have  not  repented,  suggests  that 
there  are  two  letters  here,  of  which  the  second 
comes  first. 

In  that  case,  St.  Paul  first  wrote  what  is  con- 
tained in  chapters  10-13.  He  spoke  sharply  to 
the  Corinthians  for  their  disregard  of  his  counsel, 
and  their  disrespect  for  him  personally,  and 
threatened  to  say  worse  things  to  them  face  to 
face.  Then  they  came  to  a  better  mind,  and  he 
wrote  the  chapters  1-9.  He  made  them  sorry,  he 
says,  but  he  did  it  with  tears,  on  account  of  his 
great  love  for  them.  He  speaks  of  his  labors  for 
their  sake  in  the  gospel.  Finally,  he  asks  them  to 
contribute  to  the  collection  which  he  is  making  for 
the  poor  Christians  of  Jerusalem. 

301 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  PAUL 

The  Epistle  to  the  Romans  was  written  at  the 
close  of  the  third  missionary  journey.  St.  Paul 
had  come  to  Corinth  in  the  course  of  his  last 
visits  to  his  churches  before  setting  out  for  Jeru- 
salem. It  had  long  been  his  purpose  to  visit  Rome, 
and  to  go  on  farther  even  into  Spain,  but  the 
future  was  uncertain.  In  the  meantime,  he  writes 
what,  if  he  were  present,  he  would  preach. 

The  subject  is  the  relation  between  Judaism 
and  Christianity,  which  he  had  considered  in  the 
letter  to  the  Galatians.  But  the  situation  is  dif- 
ferent. The  Christians  in  Galatia  had  been 
tempted  to  over-value  Judaism,  and  thus  to 
return  to  the  old  law.  The  Christians  in  Rome 
were  tempted  to  under-value  Judaism,  and  to 
disregard  all  law  in  the  new  freedom  of  the  gospel. 

St.  Paul  begins  by  showing  the  failure  of  both 
Gentile  and  Jewish  religions.  The  Gentile  world 
is  bad,  and  the  Jewish  world  has  fallen  far  below 
its  ideals.  Christianity  comes  bringing  men  help. 
This  help  consists  in  the  strength  of  God  which 
men  may  have  by  uniting  themselves  with  Him  in 
Jesus  Christ.  The  strength  of  God  is  called  grace, 
and  the  act  by  which  we  enter  into  union  with 
Christ  is  called  faith.    We  are  thus  saved,  not  by 


THE  MISSIONARY  JOURNEYS 

our  own  efforts,  not  by  works,  but  by  faith  and 
grace. 

At  the  same  time,  St.  Paul  guards  the  Roman 
Christians  against  two  errors.  They  are  not  to 
think  that  because  salvation  is  of  God,  not  of 
themselves,  they  are  therefore  any  more  free  to 
sin.  And  they  are  not  to  think  that  because  the 
gospel  has  now  taken  the  place  of  the  law,  the 
Jews  are  therefore  cast  away  forever. 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  PAUL,  DURING  THE 
ROMAN  IMPRISONMENT 

1.  To  the  Colossians.    Against  a  False  Philosophy. 

The  worship  of  angels  instead  of  Christ. 
The  keeping  of  fasts  and  days  instead  of  Uberty 

2.  To  Philemon.    Concerning  a  Runaway  Slave. 

3.  To  the  Ephesians.    A  Circular  Letter. 

God  has  called  us  to  great  blessing.    We  must 
live  worthy  of  our  calling. 

4.  To  the  Philistines.    Thanks  for  gifts. 

The  Pastoral  Epistles. 
I  and  II  Timothy,  and  Titus.   Counsels  to  Ministers. 

To  the  Hebrews.     Encouragement  under  Perse- 
cution. 

1.  Consider  the  glory  of  our  religion. 

(1)  Jesus  is  higher  than  the  angels,  1,  2. 

(2)  Exalted  above  Moses,  3,  4. 

(3)  Exalted  above  Aaron,  5-7. 

The  order  of  Melchizedek. 

(4)  Our  divine  high  priest,  8-10. 

2.  Consider  the  example  of  the  heroes  of  the  faith, 

11-13. 

npHE  prison  of  St.  Paul  in  Rome  was  his  own 

house.    There,  at  least,  he  spent  two  years 

while  he  was  awaiting  his  trial.     A  soldier,  indeed, 

guarded  him  night  and  day,  to  whose  arm  Paul 

304 


THE  ROMAN  IMPRISONMENT 

was  chained,  but  he  had  liberty  to  see  his  friends. 
Day  by  day,  he  preached  the  gospel,  now  to  one 
soldier,  now  to  another,  until  the  news  of  the 
coming  of  God  among  us  in  Jesus  Christ  became 
known  to  many.  This  is  of  interest  to  us  because 
presently  it  was  by  Roman  soldiers  that  the  gospel 
was  first  preached  in  Britain. 

One  of  the  friends  and  disciples  who  came  to 
visit  Paul  was  a  man  named  Epaphras.  He  came 
from  Colosse,  a  city  east  of  Ephesus.  He  had 
learned  the  Christian  religion  from  Paul,  probably 
during  the  apostle^s  mission  in  that  neighborhood, 
and  had  taught  it  to  the  Colossians.  Paul  was 
troubled  to  hear  from  Epaphras  that  the  Colos- 
sians had  fallen  into  various  errors.  It  was  the 
belief  of  some  people  at  that  time  that  the  world, 
with  all  that  is  in  it,  including  the  body  of  man,  is 
wholly  bad;  and  that  God,  who  is  wholly  good, 
is  very  far  away.  This  belief,  which  afterwards, 
under  the  name  of  Canosticism,  attracted  many 
Christians  and  led  them  into  error,  had  two 
results.  Men  said,  in  the  first  place,  that  if  God 
is  so  far  away  He  must  govern  the  world  by  means 
of  angels,  and  so  they  thought  a  great  deal  about 
the  angels,  instead  of  thinking  of  Christ,  in  whom 
God  and  man  are  truly  united.    And  they  said,  in 

S05 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  PAUL 

the  second  place,  that  if  our  bodies  are  so  evil  we 
must  make  them  as  uncomfortable  as  possible, 
we  must  beat  and  starve  them.  Thus  they  re- 
turned to  the  old  rules  about  the  relation  between 
food  and  religion,  instead  of  taking  the  blessings 
of  God  with  joy  and  thanksgiving. 

The  letter  which  Paul  wrote  to  the  Colossians 
about  these  matters  was  carried  to  them  by  a  man 
from  their  part  of  the  country  named  Tychicus. 
With  him  went  a  runaway  slave,  named  Onesimus. 
Onesimus  had  run  away  from  Colosse,  from  the 
home  of  his  master,  Philemon.  He  had  tried  to 
hide  himself  in  Rome.  There  he  had  become  ac- 
quainted with  St.  Paul,  who  had  brought  him  out 
of  the  worse  slavery  of  sin.  Onesimus  had  become 
a  Christian.  Philemon  was  a  Christian  already. 
Paul  told  Onesimus  that  it  was  his  duty  to  go 
back.  The  time  was  indeed  to  come  when  Chris- 
tianity would  make  slavery  impossible,  but  such 
great  changes  come  very  slowly.  Meanwhile,  the 
duty  of  Christian  slaves  was  to  be  as  good  slaves 
as  they  knew  how.  And  Christian  masters  must 
be  brotherly  masters.  Onesimus,  accordingly, 
went  back,  carrying  a  letter  from  Paul  to  Phile- 
mon. *^Take  back  Onesimus!'^  he  said,  ''not  now 
as  a  servant,  but  as  a  brother  beloved.'' 

306 


THE  ROMAN  IMPRISONMENT 

A  third  letter,  written  about  the  same  time  and 
sent  to  the  same  region  of  country,  is  that  which 
is  addressed  to  the  Ephesians.  It  seems  to  have 
been  intended  not  only  for  the  Ephesians  but  for 
other  churches  also,  to  be  passed  about  and  read 
to  the  Christians  of  several  places — ^Ephesus  and 
I^aodicea  and  Colosse.  It  does  not  refer  to  St. 
PauFs  long  stay  in  Ephesus,  nor  does  it  carry 
greetings  to  any  Ephesian  friends.  Indeed,  some 
think  that  the  real  letter  to  the  Ephesians  is  the 
last  chapter  of  the  Romans.  This  chapter  is  a 
commendation  of  a  Christian  woman  named 
Phebe  to  the  friendship  of  a  number  of  people 
whose  names  are  mentioned.  The  fact  that  many 
of  these  are  Ephesian  names  suggests  that  Phebe 
was  starting  out  for  Ephesus.  Anyhow,  the 
epistle  which  is  called  Ephesians  was  probably 
meant  for  all  the  churches  of  that  neighborhood. 
It  is  a  practical  letter,  reminding  the  readers  of  the 
love  of  God  for  them,  and  urging  them  to  be 
worthy  of  it.  It  is  addressed  not  only  to  fathers 
and  mothers,  but  to  children,  whose  chief  duty,  St. 
Paul  says,  is  obedience. 

Thus  went  Tychicus,  over  the  way  from  Rome 
to  Ephesus  and  Colosse,  bearing  these  three 
letters. 

307 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  PAUL 

A  fourth  letter  of  the  Roman  imprisonment  was 
written  to  the  people  of  Philippi.  One  of  their 
number,  Epaphroditus,  had  come  to  Rome 
bringing  gifts  to  St.  Paul  from  the  Philippian 
Christians.  These  first  European  converts  had 
been  very  faithful  and  devoted  to  him.  He  writes 
to  thank  them  for  their  thoughtfulness  and  affec- 
tion. Epaphroditus  has  been  ill  in  Rome,  and  is 
thus  returning  to  Philippi  sooner  than  he  had  ex- 
pected. Paul  is  careful  to  inform  the  Philip- 
pians,  that  they  may  not  suspect  their  messenger 
of  having  lost  his  courage.  Paul  hears  that  two 
women  of  the  Philippian  congregation  have  had  a 
quarrel,  and  he  urges  them  to  make  it  up.  Other- 
wise, the  letter  is  full  of  praise  and  gratitude.  The 
imprisonment  is  long,  and  the  outcome  of  the  trial 
is  doubtful,  but  Paul  is  full  of  faith  and  joy. 

Four  other  letters  have  the  name  of  St.  Paul 
attached  to  them  in  our  Bible;  two  to  Timothy, 
one  to  Titus,  one  to  the  Hebrews. 

The  two  to  Timothy  and  the  one  to  Titus  are 
called  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  because  they  are  ad- 
dressed to  Christian  pastors.  They  are  perhaps 
related  to  St.  Paul  as  the  First  Gospel  is  related  to 
St.  Matthew,  and  the  Fourth  to  St.  John;  that  is, 
the  heart  of  the  letters  is  the  word  and  spirit  of 

308 


THE  ROMAN  IMPRISONMENT 

St.  Paul,  but  other  writers,  in  a  different  manner, 
and  with  a  different  idea  of  faith  and  works,  and 
in  a  different  situation,  have  made  additions.  Very 
precious,  in  the  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  is  the 
record  of  what  we  may  call  the  last  words  of  Paul. 
"  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my 
departure  is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight, 
I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith.'' 
The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  was  addressed  by  an 
unknown  writer  to  Christians  who  were  in  the  pain 
of  persecution.  So  sorely  were  they  made  to 
suffer  for  their  faith  that  there  was  danger  lest 
they  give  it  up.  The  epistle  is  written  to  encourage 
them.  It  shows  how  glorious  is  the  religion  which 
they  have  received;  Christ  is  greater  than  Moses 
and  higher  than  the  angels,  our  high  priest  who 
prays  for  us  in  Heaven;  not  like  the  priests  of  the 
old  religion,  coming  in  orderly  succession,  offering 
their  sacrifices  and  giving  place  to  others,  but 
called  directly  by  God,  like  Melchizedek  in  Abra- 
ham's day,  and  abiding  forever.  The  epistle  re- 
cites the  names  of  former  heroes  of  the  faith,  and 
urges  the  reader  to  follow  their  example. 


809 


THE    EPISTLES  OF  ST.  JAMES   AND  ST. 
JUDE  AND  ST.  PETER  AND  ST.  JOHN 

1.  The  epistles  of  the  brothers  of  Jesus. 

(1)  James.     Concerning  the  Temptation  of 

the  World. 

(2)  Jude.    Concerning  the  Temptations  of  the 

Flesh. 

2.  The  epistles  of  the  apostles  of  Jesus. 

(1)  Peter 

I.  A  Good  Life  the  Best  Reply  to  Perse- 

cution. 

II.  The  Promise  of  Christ's  Coming. 

(2)  John. 

I.  A  Good  Life  the  Best  Proof  of  Faith 

and  Love. 

II.  To  a  Lady;  Concerning  Hospitality. 

III.  To  Gains;  Concerning  Hospitality. 

r\P  the  other  epistles  of  the  New  Testament,  two 
bear  the  names  of  brothers  of  Jesus,  James 
and  Jude;  and  five  bear  the  names  of  apostles, 
Peter  and  John. 

The  epistle  of  St.  James  is  like  the  book  of 
Proverbs.  It  is  filled  with  various  kinds  of  good 
advice.  It  is  addressed  to  Christians  who  are 
meeting  temptation  without  much  success.    They 

310 


ST.  PETER  AND  ST.  JOHN 

are  disposed  to  think  more  highly  of  rich  Chris- 
tians than  of  poor  ones.  Some  of  them  are  them- 
selves rich,  and  have  made  their  money  by  such 
injustice  towards  those  who  have  worked  for 
them,  and  are  spending  it  in  such  waste  and 
luxury,  that  they  are  warned  that  they  shall  be 
made  to  weep  and  howl  for  the  miseries  which 
shall  come  upon  them.  Some  who  pride  them- 
selves on  their  faith  think  that  they  will  be  accept- 
able to  God  on  that  account,  without  regard  to 
their  lives.  The  writer  has  his  opinions  of  all  such, 
and  expresses  it  with  great  plainness. 

The  epistle  of  St.  Jude  is  also  concerned  with 
unworthy  Christians.  There  have  already  ap- 
peared among  the  faithful  false  and  dangerous 
teachers,  who  are  denying  the  truth  of  God  and  of 
Christ,  and  are  persuading  men  that  in  order  to  be 
religious  one  does  not  need  to  be  good.  They  are 
themselves  living  in  sin,  and  are  leading  others 
into  sin.  The  writer  denounces  them,  classes 
them  with  the  fallen  angels  and  with  the  people 
of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  promises  that  they 
also,  and  all  who  go  with  them,  shall  be  destroyed 
with  fire. 

These  letters  of  James  and  Jude  show  that  the 
Christians  were  in  danger  of  falling  into  indif- 

311 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  JAMES,  ST.  JUDE 

ference  and  into  immorality.  They  needed  to  be 
kept  true  to  their  ideals  of  right  living.  The  first 
epistle  of  St.  Peter  reveals  another  danger, — ^the 
peril  of  persecution.  As  in  the  epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, the  Christians  are  urged  to  be  brave  and 
patient  in  the  midst  of  unfair  and  cruel  treatment, 
and  to  reply  to  it,  not  by  attempting  to  protect 
themselves,  but  by  living  such  good  lives  as  shall 
make  their  enemies  ashamed  of  their  enmity.  But 
the  second  epistle  returns  to  the  charges  of  un- 
christian conduct,  quoting  nearly  the  whole  of 
Jude,  and  adding  hard  words  about  some  who  are 
teaching  that  Christ  shall  never  come  again.  It  is 
foolish,  these  teachers  said,  to  expect  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth;  all  things  remain  as 
they  were  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
The  false  teachers  appear  also  in  the  epistles  of 
St.  John.  The  first  epistle  emphasizes  again  and 
again  the  truth  that  the  way  to  show  one's  love 
for  God  is  to  keep  His  commandments;  he  that 
doeth  righteousness  is  righteous.  Many  false 
prophets  are  gone  out  into  the  world.  There  is  a 
spirit  of  antichrist  abroad,  denying  that  Jesus  is 
the  Son  of  God.  The  second  epistle  warns  a 
Christian   lady   against   receiving  false   teachers 

into  her  house.    Many  deceivers  are  entered  into 

312 


ST.  PETER  AND  ST.  JOHN 

the  world  who  confess  not  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
come  in  the  flesh.  The  third  epistle  praises  a  man 
named  Gaius  for  his  hospitality  towards  visiting 
Christians,  but  condemns  Diotrephes  for  refusing 
to  receive  them.  The  church  in  that  place  seems 
to  be  divided. 

Looking  back,  now,  over  the  twenty-one  epistles, 
we  see  that  they  are  the  record  of  two  conflicts. 

One  of  these  is  a  contention  between  two  ways  of 
thinking.  The  separation  of  the  Christians  from 
the  Jewish  church  made  immediately  two  opposed 
companies,  the  Christians  and  the  Jews.  We  saw 
how  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem  stoned  the  Christians, 
and  how  St.  Paul  was  in  like  danger  at  their  hands 
wherever  he  went;  finally,  when  he  returned  to 
Jerusalem,  they  tried  to  kill  him,  and  succeeded  in 
putting  an  end  to  his  ministry.  But  in  addition 
to  this  difference  between  the  Christians  and  the 
Jews,  there  was  a  difference  within  the  Christian 
church  between  those  on  one  side  who,  though 
they  were  Christians,  liked  the  old  ways  and  were 
very  unwilling  to  depart  from  them,  and  those  on 
the  other  side  who  felt  that  the  old  ways  were  a 
bondage  out  of  which  they  had  escaped  into  a 
glorious  liberty.  One  side  said,  ''Let  us  change 
little'';    the  other  said,  ''Let  us  change  much." 

313 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  JAMES,  ST.  JUDE 

Thus  they  contended  as  to  the  need  of  keeping  the 
old  law  in  the  new  church.  One  said,  "Except  ye 
be  circumcized  ye  cannot  be  saved'';  the  other 
said,  "Circumcision  availeth  nothing,  nor  uncir- 
cumcision,  but  a  new  creature."  It  is  this  debate 
which  appears  in  Galatians  and  in  Romans.  In 
spirit,  it  is  the  universal  and  everlasting  discussion 
between  the  conservatives  and  the  progressives, 
between  the  men  of  the  old  learning  and  the  men 
of  the  new  learning. 

There  was  also  a  contention  between  two  ways 
of  living.  On  one  side  was  the  teaching  and 
example  of  Jesus,  presenting  the  ideal  life.  He  in- 
sisted on  a  goodness  which  required  the  obedience 
not  only  of  the  hands  and  lips  but  of  the  heart.  He 
said  that  the  love  of  God  is  shown  not  only  by 
sacrifices  and  prayers  and  loyalty  to  the  church, 
but  by  keeping  His  commandments;  and  that  the 
love  of  our  neighbor  means  that  we  shall  love  even 
our  enemies.  On  the  other  side  was  human  nature, 
and  the  temptations  of  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the 
devil.  Every  epistle  speaks  of  the  bad  behavior  of 
some  Christians.  They  had  to  be  warned  not  to 
lie  or  steal.  They  had  to  be  kept  from  quarrelling. 
They  had  to  be  urged  to  separate  themselves  from 
the  sins  of  their  pagan  neighbors.    As  the  years 

314 


ST.  PETER  AND  ST.  JOHN 

pass,  and  the  epistles  of  James  and  Jude,  and 
Peter  and  John  appear,  good  men  are  almost  in 
despair.  Not  only  has  the  first  enthusiasm  given 
way  to  indifference,  but  indifference  is  falling  into 
immorality.  There  are  both  false  Christians  and 
false  teachers.  This  also  is  a  universal  and  ever- 
lasting contention.  The  fact  that  the  same 
struggle  between  good  and  evil  is  still  going  on, 
both  about  us  and  within  us,  helps  us  to  read  these 
old  letters  as  if  they  were  written  today  to  us. 


315 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 
THE  REVELATION 


THE  REVELATION 

1.  The  seven  churches,  1-3. 

2.  The  seven  visions. 

(1)  The  sealed  book,  4,  5. 

(2)  The  seven  seals,  6,  7. 

(3)  The  seven  trumpets,  8-11. 

(4)  The  seven  mystical  figures,  12-14. 

(5)  The  seven  golden  bowls,  15,  16. 

(6)  The  destruction  of  Rome,  17-20. 

(7)  The  foundation  of  New  Jerusalem,  21,  22. 

A  LL  along  the  way  which  this  last  book  brings 
to  an  end,  the  Bible  people  have  been  in  con- 
tention with  the  great  powers  of  the  world.  It  has 
been  like  the  story  of  a  hero  whose  road  of  adven- 
ture takes  him  through  the  country  of  the  giants. 
First,  the  Egyptian  giant  seized  the  people  and 
made  them  slaves.  They  escaped  at  last,  and 
settled  in  Palestine,  after  hard  fighting  with  the 
people  of  the  land  and  with  their  neighbors  round 
about,  and  became  a  strong  nation,  which  mis- 
government  divided  into  two  kingdoms.  The 
Assyrian  giant  attacked  one  of  the  kingdoms,  and 
carried   the    people    captive   to    Nineveh.      The 

319 


THE  REVELATION 

Chaldean  giant  attacked  the  other  kingdom,  and 
carried  the  people  captive  to  Babylon.  The  Per- 
sian giant  conquered  the  Chaldean,  and  permitted 
the  people  to  return  to  Palestine.  But  the  Greek 
giant  conquered  the  Persian  and  brought  upon  the 
people  the  persecution  which  appears  in  the  book 
of  Daniel.  Finally,  the  Roman  giant  conquered 
the  Greek.  The  people  who  had  been  divided  into 
two  kingdoms  were  now  divided  into  two  churches. 
The  Roman  giant  attacked  the  Jewish  church,  and 
in  the  year  70  accomplished  that  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  which  is  predicted  in  the  gospels.  The 
beginning  of  the  attack  of  the  Roman  giant  upon 
the  Christian  church  appears  in  the  book  of 
Revelation. 

In  the  Acts  the  Romans  are  almost  always 
friendly  to  the  Christians.  The  Jews  rise  up  in 
mobs  against  the  Christian  preachers,  but  the 
Romans  protect  them.  The  Jews  bring  the 
Christians  before  the  courts  but  the  Roman 
judges  acquit  them.  In  the  year  64,  however, 
came  an  event  which  changed  all  this.  That  was 
the  year  of  the  great  fire  in  Rome.  It  burned  and 
burned,  till  the  whole  city  was  threatened  with 
destruction.  After  the  fire  was  over,  people  began 
to  say  that  it  had  been  set  by  Nero,  the  emperor. 

320 


THE  REVELATION 

So  many  said  it,  and  so  loud  and  bitter  were  their 
voices,  that  the  emperor  looked  about  for  some- 
body on  whose  shoulders  he  might  put  the  blame. 
And  he  found  the  Christians. 

It  is  likely  that  Paul  had  been  tried  before  this 
time,  and  condemned  and  beheaded;  Peter  was 
probably  the  leader  of  the  Roman  Christians.  The 
Roman  people  knew  little  about  them  except  that 
they  never  went  either  to  the  church  or  to  the 
theatre.  That  is,  they  kept  themselves  apart 
from  both  the  religion  and  the  amusement  of  the 
city.  And  even  the  Jews  hated  them.  The  Chris- 
tians, then,  having  no  friends,  were  convenient 
persons  on  whom  to  put  the  blame  of  burning 
Rome.  Nero  accused  the  Christians.  They  were 
scourged,  they  were  thrown  amongst  savage  lions 
in  the  Colosseum;  they  were  daubed  with  pitch 
and  fastened  to  stakes  and  set  on  fire  in  Nero's 
pleasure  gardens,  where  now  stands  the  great 
church  of  St.  Peter.  And  the  persecution,  thus 
begun,  continued  for  more  than  two  hundred 
years.  The  fact  that  a  person  was  a  Christian 
made  him  liable  at  any  time  to  arrest  and  punish- 
ment, as  if  he  were  a  thief  or  a  murderer.  The 
whole  power  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  whole 
strength  of  the   Roman   giant,   was  exerted  to 

321 


THE  REVELATION 

crush  out  the  religion  of  Christ.  Finally,  the 
Christian  church  conquered  the  Roman  Empire. 
But  that  splendid  story  is  in  church  history.  Only 
the  beginning  of  it  is  in  the  Revelation. 

The  key  to  the  meaning  of  the  book  of  Revela- 
tion is  hidden  in  the  last  verse  of  the  thirteenth 
chapter.  ^^Here  is  wisdom.  Let  him  that  hath 
understanding  count  the  number  of  the  beast; 
for  it  is  the  number  of  a  man;  and  his  number  is 
six  hundred  three  score  and  six.'^  Now,  in  Hebrew 
the  letters  of  the  alphabet  were  used  as  numbers, 
and  the  name  Neron  Caesar  written  in  Hebrew 
letters  makes  666.  The  beast,  then,  of  whom  the 
writer  had  just  been  saying  that  as  many  as  would 
not  worship  his  image  should  be  killed,  was  the 
Caesar  Nero,  the  beginner  of  the  persecution. 
According  to  the  law  of  the  Roman  state  all  people 
were  required  to  worship  the  image  of  the  em- 
peror, under  pain  of  death.  This  was  the  test 
which  was  appHed  to  Christians.  If  they  would 
worship  the  image  they  were  set  free;  if  they  re- 
fused— as,  being  Christians,  they  must  refuse — 
they  were  put  to  death. 

Thus  the  book  is  dated  by  this  sentence.    It  be- 
longs to  those  early  days  of  persecution.    The  pur- 

322 


THE  REVELATION 

pose  of  it  is  to  encourage  those  who  are  suffering  at 
the  hands  of  the  Romans,  as  the  purpose  of 
Daniel  was  to  encourage  those  who  were  suffering 
at  the  hands  of  the  Greeks.  Daniel  describes 
Antiochus  as  a  beast  with  a  little  horn,  because  he 
does  not  dare  to  write  more  plainly.  Revelation 
describes  Nero  as  a  beast  whose  number  is  666,  for 
the  same  reason.  The  people  for  whom  the  book 
was  written  knew  what  was  meant. 

Even  with  this  key,  much  of  the  book  is  still  a 
mystery  to  us,  but  it  is  clear  at  least  that  the  trib- 
ulations which  are  described  in  it  are  those  which 
are  befalling  the  Christians,  or  which  shall  pres- 
ently, for  their  cruelty,  befall  the  Romans.  The 
Christian  martyrs  are  seen  before  the  throne  of 
God,  crying,  ''How  long,  0  Lord,  holy  and  true, 
dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them 
that  dwell  on  the  earth?'' 

The  writer  declares  that  Rome — ^which  he  calls 
Babylon,  because  he  does  not  dare  to  speak  the 
name  aloud — shall  be  utterly  and  terribly  de- 
stroyed. ''I  saw  another  angel  come  down  from 
Heaven,  having  great  power,  and  the  earth  was 
lightened  with  his  glory.  And  he  cried  mightily 
with  a  strong  voice  saying,  'Babylon  the  great  is 

323 


THE  REVELATION 

fallen,  is  fallen,  and  is  become  the  habitation  of 
devils,  and  the  hold  of  every  foul  spirit,  and  a  cage 
of  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird/  " 

And  Jerusalem — ^by  which  he  means  the  Chris- 
tian church — shall  become  the  joy  and  crown  of 
the  whole  earth.  ^'I  saw  the  holy  city.  New  Jeru- 
salem, coming  down  from  God  out  of  Heaven,  pre- 
pared as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  And  I 
heard  a  great  voice  out  of  Heaven  saying,  ^  Behold 
the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will 
dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and 
God  himself  shall  be  with  them  and  be  their  God. 
And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes; 
and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow, 
nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain; 
for  the  former  things  are  passed  away.' " 

The  Bible  ends  with  this  great  promise.  In- 
tended to  encourage  those  who  were  being  per- 
secuted by  the  Romans,  it  has  been  a  source  of 
strength  and  consolation  ever  since.  Out  of  all 
tribulation,  into  all  joy,  shall  the  Lord  bring  those 
who  put  their  trust  in  Him.  At  last  shall  be  estab- 
lished over  all  the  earth  that  divine  kingdom  of 
righteousness  and  peace  and  blessing  for  which  all 
the  prophets  and  apostles  worked  and  waited.    He 

324 


THE  REVELATION 

whose  first  coming  is  described  in  the  gospels  shall 
come  again  to  judge  the  world.  ''Even  so  come, 
Lord  Jesus/'  says  the  writer  of  the  Revelation. 
''The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you 
all.    Amen." 


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